Lessons
by Prettycrazy
Summary: My first PD fic. The life of a young Clarisse, telling her story from the day she first entered the palace in Genovia.
1. Leaving the nest

**Disclaimer: Ok so I'm a total Princess Diary fiction virgin, this story just came to me while waiting, I had to kill time somehow and this is the result. And thanks to Regina-sp it's not full of faults and it's a real story, woohoo. So thank you so much Gina! Please read and review and remember this is my first try at this.**

**Enjoy **

**Leaving the nest……..**

Okay, so here I am! I do not really know if I am happy about this or not. For about four years now, I have known this day would come, but I feel as if these last six months have flown by way too fast. I am certain I am not the only one finding all of this rather difficult because I think I saw a tear or two from my mother and my father tried to smile but there was also a hint of sadness in his eyes. Even though, I too, can feel the anguish of leaving, I do not really understand why they are this sad, when they can see me as often as they choose. I think even my brothers were a little touched by the moment, it has not been easy living with all five of them, but I do know that it will be just as difficult to live without them.

The funny thing is, this part was actually supposed to belong to the eldest child, but since he is my brother, he of course would never do, and then the second child was supposed to take over the part but he also would never do, so it took my parents four more tries to finally have a child that would do, me! The only girl out of six siblings and that is why I am here, right outside my future home.

Oh my God! This is to be my home; it's so hard to believe that all this will be my future home. It is so big and so….yes well I don't really know what to call it, intimidating would be the word, I think.

I am to move into the Chinese room today, oh God, I do not even know Chinese, but hopefully that will not be necessary anyway. I am not talking to the furniture I believe, but am suppose to spend time with the Queen. Oh, the Queen! She is always so neat and prim and……..clean, can you say that about a queen?

Well, I am not really sure, but I guess I can as long as I just don't tell her that. She does seem so nice, but then again, I've only met her twice, and the first time I was only in the room so that she could look at me from head to toe, front to the back, and then all the way around. No one spoke a single word and I remember feeling a little like a circus animal. The second time was when she came to my parents' home and told them that everything was in order and would be ready for me to move in, within the next six months. Furthermore, I was to attend lessons of all sorts and with that last statement, my curtsey almost had me fall flat on my face, but even though the Queen looked over at my parents she still returned her look to me and smiled as if nothing had happened.

Now there is a woman greeting me, I don't recall seeing her before. Hmm… I wonder who she is; I guess she is employed here. She is leading me up the long staircase and through a long hallway, where at the end, she asks me to take a seat, so I sit down gracefully, making certain that I do not make creases in my skirt. I look around me in the hall, there are paintings everywhere and anywhere, but I do not know any of the people in them, well I'll probably learn some more about all of them in my lessons.

My thoughts were interrupted by a relatively young man coming out of the door right next to where I'm seated. He's older than I am, by five, maybe seven years. He is tall, okay maybe not that tall, but definitely taller than me. Dark, handsome, seems muscular but it's hard to tell though in a pair of black pants and a dark shirt. I try to look away but somehow my eyes are fixed on him, maybe because I think I know him, but yet I don't know him from anywhere! He then turns around and looks back at me, flashing me a blinding smile, which I return, he walks the few steps over and extends his hand to me, and I mirror his actions, while standing up he then takes my hand and kisses it, and says with the softest, but very masculine voice "A pleasure to finally meet you!"

I look back at him dumbfounded and he squeezes his eyes together for a second before adding, "You are Clarisse Gerard, are you not?" I don't know what to do or say so I plainly nod my head yes, and he again flashes me a blinding smile, which I again, can only return. He then lets go of my hand and leaves me standing there.

After a moment, I recover and take my seat again; looking down the hall in the direction he went, trying to see if I can get one more glimpse of this man. I do not know what is wrong with me, I have never felt this way before, every time a man has looked my way, I have always looked the other direction or simply left, but this man, well I don't know what happened and I… Oh my God I don't even know who he is? I might not even meet him again, let alone see him. Oh why didn't I ask him his name! Wait, where did he know my name from? Well he probably works here; I guess my moving into the palace has been announced for weeks so they probably all know my name. I hate that, I like being invisible, but I do not think I will have much luck with that here, or maybe I will, it is so big here that no one will even know who or where I am. Still I would like to know who that man was! I look back down the hall in the direction he went in hope of just seeing a part of him, just a hair, a hand, anything.

Then my thoughts was interrupted again, by that woman whom I still don't know, she told me that the Queen would see me now. I rose from my seat and followed her into the Queens…..hmm office, I assume. It was a huge office, my father has as big office, but it is nothing compared to this. I try not to seem as shocked as I am about the size; frankly everything about this place has taken me by, almost surprise. She, the Queen, rises from her chair behind a large desk and walks around it to greet me. The moment her hand touches mine I drop into a low curtsey, but quickly rise again. She tells me to take my place and she herself sits down in a comfortable chair by the fireplace. She looks at me with a questioning gaze; I do not really know where to look. It is not like this is an old friend or something, no; she is someday going to be my mother in-law. Even though I have not even meet the Crown Prince, I am still to marry him, which is a little weird to think about, I am one day going to be the Queen of Genovia, not what I have always dreamed about. I wanted to be a nurse, or teacher, or something like that. Oh no, the Queen is looking at me as if she has said something to me, oh no, what do I do? Mother told me not to daydream like this when I came here. Well, if I just apologise I can save myself from this.

"Oh, I'm sorry Your Majesty?"

"I just said, you've already meet my aide, Karen!"

Oh, so that is who she is, of course! I could have said that myself. Why didn't I think about that? I slightly nod to the Queen.

"And she will show you to your room shortly, she will also be the one to whom you turn to if something does not suffice, or if something is wrong, anything really. She will also provide you with your schedule every morning, tell you when and where to be and so on. She will also be around at all times during these lessons I have arranged, any questions you might have….."

I was about to cut in but noticed the Queen's staring eyes, so I just closed my mouth.

"….you call for Karen. Is that perfectly understood, my dear?"

I do not know how to act, say, or do for that matter; so I just nod and cast my eyes downwards. Then I can see the Queen rises again, so of course so do as well I. I curtsey to the Queen as does Karen when the Queen passes by her. I do not know what do to then so I look over at Karen, who is clearly waiting for the Queen to leave the room and as soon as the doors are closed, she turns around towards me.

"Lady Gerard, follow me please and I will show you to your room!"

"Thank you!" I say as I follow behind her out the door. I make sure that I pay attention to everything I pass as we walk. We go back down the long hallway and when we reach the staircase again, we turn to the right and walk along this side over to the opposite side of where the stair is, then walk down another long hallway and go through the third door on the left, which is a door to another hallway. I am afraid we will not get to my room until I am too old to remember my way back, but then we walk up to a door that has three small steps leading to it and Karen stops.

"This is your room, for now!" She gestures to the door.

"For now?" I reiterate.

"Yes, you will of course move to the royal wing as soon as the engagement is official!" She replies.

"What? Official! When is that?" The questions come tumbling out.

"When the Queen thinks you are ready!" Karen replies smiling.

Oh my! I did not see that one coming. I have not even met the Crown Prince yet, let alone the King, and already I am informed that this is only temporary. Until the Queen thinks I am ready, but ready for what? Oh my God, what is…..?

"Lady Gerard wont you go in and take a look, see if everything is sufficient to you, your needs and wishes?" Karen interrupts my thoughts.

"Uh, oh yes, yes of course!" I quickly reply.

I walked up the small steps and the guards that were standing next to the doors immediately opened them for me, so I stepped inside to the most beautiful, gorgeous, bright room I have ever seen in my life. I have seen pictures from China, and this was just like looking inside a Chinese house, silk and satin all over the place, but uh…..where am I suppose to sleep, I do not see a bed, I turn to Karen.

"Uh, not to be demanding or anything, but I would really like a bed!" A little shocked that I would even have to ask for one.

Karen looked over to the right where there was a door, I did not see before. I walked over and opened it, then peeked inside. On the other side was a bedroom about the size of the first floor in my parent's home. The bed was the size of my old room, I may need a map just to make sure I get out of it again, next to the bed the was another door, I had to see what was behind that and it was a golden bathroom about the size of my father office, it was amazing. When I walked back out, Karen was standing there next to the bed waiting. I looked at her with huge eyes.

"It's amazing Karen, I love it!" I practically squealed in delight!

"I'm glad. Here are your schedule for today and for tomorrow, I'll show you where all the different rooms are later, you are to meet with the royal family in one hour in the yellow garden, I'll walk you there when the time comes. Dinner is at 6 and don't be late." She spoke, walking towards the door.

Then Karen left, as soon as she was out the door, two ladies walked in and they immediately curtsied before me, telling me they where my ladies maids and were here now to assist me in getting ready to meet with the royal family. I looked down at myself; did I not look presentable enough for the royal family? I looked over at the maids that avoided eye contact with me completely.

"Oh um…, if this is going to work, then I need you to be able to at least look at me!" I said incredulously.

"We're sorry my lady, but we've been taught not to!" Both maids suddenly replied.

"Well I don't care, and I need your names as well?" I demanded.

"Veronica and Nadia!" They answered in unison.

**50 minutes later:**

I am in fresh clothes that my ladies maids informed me were chosen by the Queen and the Crown Prince, at least I am marrying a man with good taste. I am now on my way to the yellow garden which seems to be far away; well it feels as though we have been walking for hours. Karen has stopped so I guess we are here. She tells me to wait for just a minute so I look around at the paintings that surround me again. Then the doors are opened and Karen gestures for me to enter. I walk slowly in, but not to slow. As soon as I am past the two guards I see him again, only now he is wearing a pair of light pants and a white shirt, and he is standing to my left. The King and Queen are right in front of me so I better go to them, but I wonder where the Crown Prince, or my future husband, is I still have not seen him. I curtsey in front of the royals, as I do I look back and catch his eyes, and oh my God, I have never in my life seen such beautiful green eyes. I can feel my cheeks redden and he flashes me a blinding smile, just as earlier. I rise and the Queen looks at me suspiciously and then smiles while she reaches out her hand to…oh my God, to him.

"Lady Clarisse Gerard, may I present my son, The Crown Prince of Genovia, Rupert Renaldi." The Queens proudly introduces her son to me.

I feel as if my chin just hit the floor, it was him, my mysterious man from earlier, he was not employed here, oh well, yes he kind of is, but not in the same way as many others, I would never have guessed, he does not look like a Prince. I don't know where to look so I try to look over his head, but right behind him is a family portrait of course, so that did not help me. Anyway, he takes my hand just as gentle as before.

"I have the pleasure again, my lady!" He smiles at me adoringly and then kisses it and I feel as if I'm fainting, but I pull myself up and return his smile.

"I did not think you were you! Oh um, you know what I mean, do you not?" I ask nervously. He smiles back at me and nods.

"Yes and I apologise for not introducing myself earlier, I do so hope that I am still on you good side!" He teases gently.

I just smile even wider at him. I cannot seem to remove my gaze until the King's voice is heard. "Well maybe we should see if tea is ready, shall we?"

He escorts his wife out to the garden and I stay behind with the Prince, I cannot move my feet, I just stand there, then he offers his arm to me and I accept it, and that seems to break the spell. We walk out to join the King and Queen.

This has been the best day ever I think, even though I have moved away from my parents and I now have to follow the Queens schedule. I have finally met my future husband and now it does not seem so bad that this was all arranged, but we still have a long way to go.

To be continued………..


	2. Kiss and don't tell

**Disclaimer: Thanks to all for your wonderful reviews, I really appreciate them all. Again a million thank you to Gina for helping me out with this. **

**I hope you all will enjoy this part. And I think I forgot to tell you all that I do not own any of the characters or anything Disney or Meg Cabot related, but now you know I don't!**

**Enjoy.**

**Kiss and don't tell…….**

Oh my, I have been living here for two months now and am going crazy over all the lessons. The Queen insists that she teaches me how to walk, talk, sit, stand, eat, drink, and even sleep like a true royal. How they do things differently from anyone else, I cannot see, but she wants me to learn. If I have learned anything, it's riding, I absolutely love it. The best part is that it's Rupert, yes Rupert, we call each other by our first names now when we are alone, and he is the one who is teaching me. Not only do I get to spend some time with him and get to know him, I also get a chance to get away from these dreadful lessons.

This morning the Queen taught me how I am supposed to sit, eat, and what to talk about at the state dinner I am to attend in a short while. I do not remember when it is but I think it's after the engagement has been made official. Oh yes, that is true, my dear soon-to-be mother in-law is also teaching me how to act during the press conference when they announce the engagement, but Rupert asked me to just forget everything that day, because as he says, "I am not marrying my mother, I am marrying you!"

It is funny how he always talks as if he hates everything his mother does, when there is no chance that she will hear, but whenever we are at the palace he never does that, well yes, he whispers things sometimes, like when she was teaching me how to greet guests properly, he came up behind me and whispered in my ear and I had a hard time not laughing.

"I do not get this, never have, why can we not just walk into the room and yell hello, like other people do?" He whispers fast.

"Shh, Rupert, I am trying to learn!" I whisper back at him.

"I tried the other thing once; I thought I'd killed her!" He laughs.

I look over at the Queen showing me how to let the people show their appreciation for the invitation.

"Shouldn't you be somewhere else?" I ask quietly while looking between him and the Queen.

"Yes, yes I'm leaving now!" He says in a low voice as he walks away, he for a short second places his hand on the small of my back, and that action freezes me to the spot. I just stand there staring after him. Even though, he has already left I keep staring straight ahead and did not look away until the Queen interrupts.

"Lady Clarisse, I expect you to pay attention during these lessons, not just standing there daydreaming." She says harshly.

"I'm sorry." I answer while curtseying.

"I will not tolerate this kind of behaviour once more, is that understood?"

I nod and we return to the lesson, or like when I was being taught how to sit and what to do during the announcement of the engagement. This time the Queen just tells me that I should not say anything but let Rupert do all the talking, as he is more experienced, but when she turns her back to us to tell her aide Karen what she wants to happen, Rupert leans in, still holding my hand.

"If this was up to me, we would either, send out a press release with the message and run away on vacation for about a month or we would hold this press conference and make out like crazy right here in front of members of the press and the rest of the world!" He says softly.

"Rupert, how do you come up with these things?" I whisper back, blushing.

"I guess it's all the time I have on my hands right now that gives me these wicked ideas or maybe it's because I don't like being told what to do at what point, I even thought about kissing you before I'm allowed to at our wedding!" He whispers and winks at me before leaning back on the sofa.

I just look at him with my mouth wide open and in complete shock. I didn't notice the Queen and King were starring at me, but with the look Rupert gave me, it suddenly makes me remember that we are not alone and that I better remember my manners.

He always catches me off guard. We were out riding yesterday and I was trying to mount my horse but just as I am almost up, the stupid animal moves and I fall down, right in the arms of Rupert. He just keeps standing there with me in his arms, smiling at me. When I make an attempt to stand he bounces me back up into his arms and walks over to the bench right behind us and sits down with me in his lap. He then lets his hand run down from my hip, over my thigh and to my knee just to travel further down to my ankle and then all the way back up again and while doing so he just asks, "Did you hurt yourself, Clarisse?"

"No Rupert, but thank you." I reply to him inaudible due to the shock of having him touch me like that and especially as I can see the Queen in the window, watching us. I stand up as quick as he will let me when I see that the Queen's look has changed, he rises with me but holds on to me.

With his back to the window where she was standing he looks into my eyes "I love seeing you get all flustered just because you and I are doing something that will not be to my mother's liking." He says while running his hands up and down my arms slowly.

"Well, I am the one that is getting told I am not worthy of marriage to you when I act like this, even before our engagement!" I say sadly and look down.

He raises my head again and looks me in the eye, once more. "I find you more that worthy!" He almost spells, ending it with one of his blinding smiles, which I can not help but return.

He again helped me up on my horse and we took off. Even though the Queen was watching every minute of this she has not spoken a word about it, and I saw her eyes burning with anger when she saw us that close together. I guess she is just trying to get used to there being another woman in her only son's life and I know she is not all that fond of me, which makes me certain that is the reason why she is teaching me all these things.

I am suppose to have a royal history lesson now, but the Queen has been held up by a telephone call from some other country, so I am just sitting here in the library, looking at all the different paintings in this room. Right next to me is a painting of King Henry the III 1586-1660, I look him up and apparently he was quite the ladies man, he did not only father children with his wife, an arranged marriage. Then on the wall to my left is a painting of King Paul the VI 1724-1788, I looked him up, he killed his first two wives, arranged marriages, and married the love of his life and had one son. Next to him was a King Phillip the I 1402-1479 who turned to his wife's ladies maid to have a son, because his own wife had only given him 11 girls, also their marriage was arranged. I start to get a little nervous, all these marriages had been arranged and neither of them seems to have any sign of love in them, not even Rupert's own parents had chosen to become married, also theirs was arranged and they do not seem to have any love between them.

King Albert, Rupert's father, always seems so sad and alone, and his mother Queen Maud is always cold, hard and very much in control, and not in a good way. I like Rupert's father very much, even though I've only spent a few hours with him since I arrived here, but he was warm and welcoming, much like Rupert. So maybe there is hope. I would just like to know when they plan on telling the people of Genovia and the world that Rupert and I are engaged to be married, maybe that will soften the Queen.

I know she has arranged a garden party tomorrow and I am to attend as Rupert's escort. I just hope he has not gotten any wicked ideas that will embarrass either the Queen or myself, I can always run and hide for now, until all the guests have left, but the Queen can not, and I know that if she sees or hears anything that would be seen as embarrassing, I will not hear the end of it.

The Queen returns to me and our lesson with some historian that will help the Queen in teaching me about Genovia's royal history, but after sitting in the library listening for two hours I think I learned more about the royals by myself than from them.

I have been allowed to skip lessons for the rest of the day, because the Queen's schedule was changed, so I went to the garden to relax and think about what I had been reading. Of course, after only a half hour alone, Rupert joins me and we just stroll around the garden, talking about nothing special.

"I love this part of the garden; it's so quiet and private, even though I know we have two security people at our heels!" Rupert says softly, almost dreamlike.

I agree by nodding and following him over to a bench, where we sit down. None of us say anything for awhile, but then he suddenly turns around and grabs my hand while looking me in the eyes.

"Clarisse, you will turn 18 in 15 days and I'm sure of the fact that not long after that day, our engagement will be announced, and I have to say, I look forward to that day and I will be the proudest man in all of Genovia!" He declares with a nervous smile on his lips.

"Oh, Rupert I don't know what to say!" I answer almost breathlessly.

"Will you allow me one kiss now?" He asks while casting his eyes down on our hands.

"Oh I don't know Rupert, would that be appropriate? We are not officially engaged yet!" I reply nervously.

"I know Clarisse, but I would like our first kiss to be special and something for just the two of us to share and not something to share with the entire world." He spoke, looking back up to my eyes.

I look around and catch a security guard's eye and he immediately turns around to give us our privacy again. I look back at Rupert. "So that was why you led us here to your favourite part of the garden!" I smile at him.

He shakes his head and laughs softly "Am I that transparent!" I nod. "Yes, that is why I led you here, as I said, I wanted it to be special, plus here I know my mother will not be standing, looking down at us from a window." He let his free hand cup my cheek and I allow him the kiss with my eyes. He leans in slowly, still looking me in the eyes until we are so close that we cannot see each other anymore, when his lips softly touch mine and I close my eyes. The kiss is soft, warm, and better than I ever thought it could be. This being my first kiss, I am a little shocked when he softly deepens the kiss, I guess he feels my anxiety and slowly breaks the kiss. I focus my eyes on him; I can feel my cheeks getting warm.

"I'm sorry Clarisse, I didn't mean to scare you!" He says apologetically.

"Oh you didn't! It's just I've never shared a kiss and it was a very new feeling to me, but a good feeling. I guess I just have to get use to it over time!" I answer just as apologetic as he had.

"I'm glad that you enjoyed it as much as I did, thank you!" He smiles and we rise from the bench as we hear the tea bell ringing, he offers me his arm and we walk back to the palace. I am glad that Rupert makes this so easy for me and I am getting more positive that we will make our marriage better than our royal ancestors.

To be continued….


	3. Rings, Rain and Reporters

**Disclaimer: Thanks to all for your wonderful reviews, I really appreciate them all. And please do tell if there is something you'd like to happen and I'll see what my magic wand and I can do. NO PROMISES! **

**I hope you all will enjoy this part. Even though that this is me and just me, so sorry for my bad English. But I can't find it in me to do exploitation of my dear friend Gina, but I will thank her for just being who she is and for her all her helpfulness. Love you sis! **

**So now on to the story.**

**Enjoy.**

**Rings, Rain and Reporters…..**

So...now I'm officially Rupert's fiancé and have been for 6 whole days now. It's a weird feeling, I just turned 18 and this announcement of our engagement made me much older, and very sudden. Yes Rupert's prediction was correct 4 days after my 18th birthday we where told by Queen Maud that tomorrow, our engagement would be announced and that we should be ready for the press conference at 12 noon. She looked at me and just her stare told me to just do as she said, both Rupert and I was in kind of a shock stage, when we had moved out of the Queen's office, and when the huge doors closed he turned to me.

"We still have time to elope!" He said with wide open eyes.

"No we don't, she has an eye in every corner of this kingdom, and she's watching our every move." I answered back almost whispering.

"You know, I think you're right my dear. No matter where we are she will always be breathing down our necks until our wedding day is over." He said rather decisive

"Our wedding day?" I tilted my head looking at him.

"Yes our wedding day, not until that day is over, will she rest. She's so afraid that you will run away, why do you think she's assigned two guards to you starting from tomorrow!" He said with a hint of a smile in his eyes.

"TWO! Oh my, what do I need two for? And if I were to run, wouldn't I have done so already?" So many questions ran through my head I couldn't concentrate, when suddenly a thought got into my head I looked up into Rupert's eyes "Will we get a say in our wedding day at all?" I uttered with a frightful look.

Rupert cupped my cheek with one hand and took hold of my hand with the other "I don't think you shall count on that but if you want to be in charge of that or at least want to add some things, I'll be behind you in your every task!" He leaned in and kissed my cheek, letting his lips stay there for just a few seconds, but long enough for me to start to blush. When I finally got the courage to look him in the eyes again, I almost melted, the look he had was one of pure affection, and I think love.

"Thank you Rupert!" I smiled shyly up at him.

After that we had been interrupted by my ladies maids coming to get me and we went our separate ways, but a few hours later, after endless cloth fitting, and the Queen finally had decided what I should wear at the conference, I had gotten a message from Rupert.

_Meet me by the lake in an hour! Rupert._

But I didn't know where to find the lake, I hadn't had time to explore the entire garden yet, I had been in the yellow garden, Rupert's favourite part, and the green garden but nowhere else, so I had to ask one of the guards to secretly help me get to the lake. And lucky for me I found one that was willing to help me, and not tell a soul, so and hour later I had meet with Rupert at the lake.

"Hello there, I was starting to think you hadn't gotten my message or that you already had run away!" He said laughing.

"Do you really think I would run away?" I asked a little suspicious.

"I sure hope not, because then I wouldn't be Genovia's proudest man, then I'd be the unluckiest and saddest man!" He said as a matter of factly.

"Rupert I'm suppose to be at a lesson with your mother at the moment, and instead I've sneacked out and meeting with you out here, and my ladies maids are going to tell your mother when she comes asking for me that I'm not feeling well. And here you are questioning that I'm going to stay here and become your wife! I even shared a kiss with you, before we have been engaged; I'm meeting with you here, now, even before we are engaged." I spoke fast and sternly but still with a smile.

He rose from where he sat and walked the few steps over to me and took hold of both my hands "You know you are very attractive, do you not?" He said while lifting my left hand to his lips, not braking eye contact. "Just having you in the room, is enough to drive me crazy!" He kissed my hand again. "I can't wait for tomorrow, when I can tell the world that you are mine!" He smiled and turned my hand over and kissed my palm.

"Uh Rupert, I'm……..I'm……….I'm more than flattered. And I'm looking forward to tomorrow as well. And will you promise me that you will not do anything your mother wont approve of tomorrow?" I said trying to cover up my heated cheeks.

"I will try, I will promise you that!" he said.

He put his arm around my back "Now will you just walk with me?" He softly asked, and I nodded. We walked for about 2 hours just enjoying each others company and sharing silly childhood stories, then I went back to the palace ready for an ear bashing from the Queen.

And I did get that, an ear bashing that could be heard by anyone within 20 miles. Never in my life had someone yell so much and so loud at me, and all I had missed was one little, so-called eating lesson, the Queen didn't approve of my way of sitting at a dinner table so she wanted to correct it. But I can't wait for the yelling lesson; she's really good at that so I bet I'll learn a lot.

And on the day of the press conference, I didn't make our relationship any better, she had come into my room early in the morning, she started hasten me around, and when she asked the maid to redo my hair for the fourth time I rose and told her enough is enough and stormed out of the room and out in the garden and kept running, I could feel the tears pressing to fall, as my mind worked on overtime. This wasn't mine and Rupert's engagement, it was hers. It was the way she wanted it, she had arranged it with my parents, she had taken care of everything her way, she even wrote down what she wanted Rupert to say, but he told me he had thrown them away the minute she had left his office. I had so many thoughts running through my head that I didn't see the young man I bumped into until it was too late and I was sitting on the ground.

"I'm so sorry miss, I didn't see you coming!" The young man apologised

"Oh no I'm the one who's sorry I should have been looking where I was going. I didn't hurt you did I?" I asked worried

"No not at all, but are you alright?" He asked me back

"Yes, as fine as I can be." I looked down, but was almost forced to look at him again when he reached out his hand to me, to help me on my feet again.

"Thank you!" I said and smiled.

"You are welcome miss!" He smiled back

I had started raining the minute I took of for the garden, but now it was really pouring, and I could feel I was soaked to the skin. He looked at his watch.

"Can I follow you somewhere miss? Because I need to leave in a minute or I'll be late for my first job here!" He said a little nervous.

"No thank you, I'll be fine and good luck!" I smiled at him and I put my arms around myself.

"Are you sure miss, you look awful cold?" He asked concerned.

"Yes I'm sure!"

"Very well miss…? Oh what's your name?" He asked looking curiously at me.

I didn't want him to know that I was me, so I just told him my middle name so that he couldn't go back to the palace telling them where I was.

"Elizabeth, just Elizabeth." I said.

"Ok Elizabeth, I'm of duty around 9 this evening then maybe we could meet and talk some more because I better leave now or I'll be late." He was looking at me with a lot of hope in his eyes but I hate it when people are pushy like that.

"No I don't think so, I will be busy for a very long time, but if I at some point get a spare minute I'll make sure to find you!" I turned my back to him and walked over to some trees and I heard him say something and then he left me alone. And that was exactly what I wanted, to be alone, right here and now, I knew that if I went into that conference my life as Lady Clarisse Gerard would be over for sure, there would be no chance of return. And I had to admit that thought was scary.

I had been sitting under a tree for an hour, when suddenly what seemed like an army of guards came to me and asked me tons and tons of questions from are you cold to did anyone hurt you, but I was too confused to answer any of them. I got a warm blanket around me and was then lead back to the palace where I had not showed up at the planned conference, and I was meet by the Queen, not the woman I wanted to see at that moment but none the less she had, sent out the entire royal guard squad to search for me, and she didn't seem happy when they returned with me, with my cloths all drenched and hair clinging to my face. She didn't say one word to me, but then again her look was more than enough. But this humoured Rupert a great deal, and after I had been put into dry clothing and my hair had been done, we held the press conference.

The doors to the throne room were opened, the photographers flashes went of, and we entered arms entwined and sat down at the chairs put out for us, and the flashes went crazy. But Rupert looked so at ease with all this commotion that I started to relax, he then looked at me and winked.

"Ladies and gentlemen, honoured members of the press, I am proud to present to you, Lady Clarisse Elizabeth Gerard, my fiancée. We look forward to together rule and help this fantastic country that we both love so much." Rupert told the press people, and I just sat beside him smiling and freezing.

The journalists asked us so many questions and much to the Queens disapproval I answered many of them, when we told them that we would answer one more question before we retire to privacy, a fast photographer said "Could we get just one little kiss?" and Rupert turned to me and looked at me.

"Is it ok with you?" he asked

"Well I don't really know, I mean they'll probably get lots of it later on why not leave them wanting more?" I said quietly.

"That's just what I thought, and I guess we have done enough my mother will not approve of!" He laughed.

So I looked at the photographer "No you cannot, you will have to wait for that at the wedding!" I smiled at him.

And immediately they all started begging and Rupert interrupted them "I give you a kiss on the hand, and you'll have to be satisfied with that for now and then get the kiss-kiss in June next year!" He said to the reporters and raised my hand, which he had been holding and fiddling with the entire time, to his lips and looked at me when they made contact, again the flashes went nuts and I smiled at him. We then rose from our seats and left the room hand in hand.

One good thing has come out of my running, I haven't had to attend lessons with the Queen, actually she hasn't spoken to me since the day before the engagement, and I have to admit I like that, and hopefully I won't have to attend them ever again, but with my luck I don't aim after that.

But I am enjoying being officially engaged to Rupert, we can walk, talk, touch, whisper anything freely, without having to look around and make sure nobody sees us, except for our security. We have at all time inside the palace one man each following us and when we walk outside in the royal garden we each have two, four men monitoring our every move, but I guess I just have to get use to that to, Rupert seems very at ease with it, it's like he doesn't see them, but I bet he does. I try to make it easier having them around by talking with them when we are alone, but I keep mixing them up, I can't remember who like what and who's the oldest and so on, but Joseph just laughs at my forgetfulness and says that it will come in time, and Jacob seems scared at correcting my faults but looks weird when I ask him something wrong, but I'll learn eventually. Then again who decided that my two guards should have names so like each other, that don't make it easier. But I can't decide if I like them or not, they are a weird kind of people. But as long as I don't have to argue with any of them it'll go ok. Uh oh, Joseph was the one I ran into out in the rain the day of the press conference, he apologised for his flirting the minute we were alone the first time, but apparently, none of the staff here knows how I look until they meet me, funny and I thought everybody would know who I am, but I guess it's a good thing, at least something I should carries as long as I can. Because it can't last forever.

Oh Rupert and I stayed up late last night talking about everything, what was going to happen over the next 8 months, before the wedding, what was going to happen after the wedding, where we wanted to honeymoon and how many children we want. It was nice feeling like a normal person again, even though Rupert makes just as huge and effort as I am to make this engagement as "normal" as possible, every morning we meet for breakfast and every morning he brings me a flower, and always a new one and it is always one he's been out getting himself. I think that if we let it happen we will fall in love, at least that is what I hope for.

To be continued…….


	4. A lesson well learned

**Disclaimer: Thanks to all for your wonderful reviews, I really appreciate them all. And please do tell if there is something you'd like to happen and I'll see what my magic wand and I can do. NO PROMISES! **

**I hope you all will enjoy this part. Thank you so much to Shakayla for being my beta on this chapter! I've read around and people seem to dedicate their chapters to someone, and I of course will do the same, but I will dedicate this chapter to my lovely little dog that was run over by a car this morning, but doing ok.**

**So now on to the story.**

**Enjoy.**

**A lesson well learned…**

Well...only 3 months until my, no our wedding. We just returned home from what the press called our love escape or royal vacation of love. They also said that we took this vacation to get some privacy to get to know each other better before the wedding and to get away from the press. That is somewhat right; but the real reason why Rupert suggested and arranged it was so that we could get away from the Queen. She has been watching us every minute of every day since the engagement; but, the worst of the worst was that the day after the announcement. She called both of us into her office and handed us a very thick ring binder which contained our wedding: every single detail was written down. From the colour of the flowers to the length of my veil. Even the seating plan was included - some of the names were crossed over and replaced with someone else. Perhaps the guest first planned to attend had fallen out of the Queen's favour, which doesn't seem that hard to do – as I have already learned.

I could see from the plan that she must have done a lot of rearranging after I was selected to be Rupert's wife. I have five brothers, four of which are married. So they were placed around the tables in her plan. I also learned that Rupert actually has three older sisters. I had never seen them or heard about them; but Rupert told me that he has been raised as an only child, because he was the only boy. I immediately told him that this was not going to happen with our children, no matter what their gender.

So much has happened since the engagement. Not one week has gone by without the mentioning of either Rupert, me, or the both of us in the media. It has been a little frustrating and I didn't expect it to be like this. It didn't bother me in the beginning but, after the first few weeks and until now, every time I turn my head I can feel the cameras on me. I can't even take a sip of tea without hearing the dreaded clicking of what seems to be thousands of pictures being taken.

I am still struggling in the popularity category with my mother in-law. It all started when she came into my room, which is now in the royal wing of the palace, to talk about why I ran out in the rain right before the press conference. Before I had a chance to tell her why, she started giving notes to Karen about me: how my hair should be changed, my make-up and my clothes. It wasn't until she waved at the people lined up by the wall that I noticed them inside my room and they pulled, pushed, and painted me, according to her instructions. So I yelled at her when she came up to me and looked me over like a fine china pot.

"So what does her Majesty think?" The hair dresser asked with anticipation

The Queen looked me over once more and looked at the woman, "Better, much better!"

Having given her reply, she turned her attention to the dresses which hung on the wall.

"BETTER? Better is that all you have to say?" I yelled at her in shock.

She looked at me with horror in her eyes. I was yelling at her in front of the staff; and, to make matters worse, I didn't even address her properly.

"You will watch your mouth young lady!" was her harsh and only reply.

"I will not watch anything. You have turned me into you, only younger. I have sat through this for the past three hours, and all you say is better!" I continued loudly.

"Well that is all you deserve!" She spewed back, cold as ice

"You could maybe have said something nicer." I answered back just as cold.

"NICER! Nicer! You are supposed to stand beside MY son as ruler of MY country. I want it to be perfect. All you have to take care of is smiling to the public and make sure this country gets its heirs. That is your only responsibility - your duty if you choose to look at it that way!" She said loud and fast.

I looked at her shocked, then at Karen who looked down at the floor as soon as we made eye contact. Before I could say anything further, my thoughts were interrupted again by the Queen.

"You will get a lesson in how to present yourself at the state dinner tomorrow morning at 8. Don't be late!" She instructed while walking out the door.

I looked at Karen who seemed to be taking notes. I felt tears pressing to fall and they soon did. I felt Karen's hand on my shoulder, "Don't cry - she never shows happy emotions." was her soft reply.

"But she could have said something else. Something like it was just what she wanted, or that I looked beautiful, just something!" I said with tears running freely.

"She never does. The last happy emotion anyone saw from her was on her wedding day; and I guess the next will be at her funeral." Karen said matter-of-factly and then left me.

I was still stunned at the scene that just played in front of me; but I wiped my tears away and went out to the stables to go for a ride and to clear my head; However, Rupert was there and he came running over to me.

"Clarisse, are you alright? You look like you've been crying? Wha……Oh my God, you are beautiful. Perhaps a little too much like my mother, but you are stunning!" He said with wide open eyes. I couldn't help but laugh at his last remark.

"Thank you Rupert - I think! But this - it's not me this, this….yes all of this!" I answered back sadly.

"Fine. We will get it changed right after we have taken a ride!" He quickly said.

"No Rupert, I do not want to be in more trouble with your mother. She is happy with this and we will keep it like this at least for today" I softly replied.

"Ok my dear if you say so. If you can live with it for one day then so can I!" He said and then placed a kiss on my forehead. He took my arm and we went riding for at least two hours too long resulting in us being late for dinner, again.

The following day I was at my lesson with the Queen. I was being taught the what, when, where and how to sit, stand, walk, and talk. Everything that would be required at the state dinner. This would be my first official dinner party as Rupert's fiancé; and I was to be quiet and polite. I was to be still and not make a scene. I was reminded to wear gloves, white was preferable; but gloves were a must. I learned later why the gloves were necessary.

At the day of the state dinner, I had to have Rupert thrown out of my room. I decided that, for once, I didn't want to be late. It seemed that he always was the reason for my tardiness; so I had him thrown out when he came to talk while the last arrangements of my clothing and make-up were being done.

He always had a mischievous plan or idea that he wanted us to try right before we had to be somewhere with the King and Queen. I suspect it is his way of rebelling against their authority. I ended up being five minutes early this time. I spent the time waiting in the White Room, together with Rupert and the King, for the Queen's arrival, which wouldn't be a second before she had said.

During my lessons for this dinner, I was always in a short skirt and flat shoes; but the outfit that was chosen for me was a longer skirt and high heels. I had never learned how to walk in high heels because that wasn't proper for a young, unmarried woman. I had tried to walk in them in my room; but quickly realized that I would never ever be on time to the White Room if I tried to walk there in them. So I asked my ladies maids to hold them along with my white gloves while we made our way to the room. Stopping just outside the room, they handed me the shoes and helped me put them on, followed by my gloves. The signal was made for the door opening; and, fortunately, Rupert came to my rescue and escorted me inside. His strong arm held me up because my balance in the shoes was terrible. I did an awkward curtsy in front of the King and asked Rupert to help me over to the chairs so I could sit down until the Queen arrived and the official welcome was to take place.

Unfortunately, the sitting down didn't help me in anyway to prepare to keep my balance on the heels. I was placed as the last for the guests to meet. First they would meet the King, then the Queen, then Rupert, and finally me. I was standing too far from Rupert to lean on him for support; but, I came through it without trouble. It was after that I learned why I was to wear gloves: I shook hands with every single guest, which totalled 230 people. After all four of us completed this task, the white gloves we were wearing were no longer white.

My heels were killing me as we were lead to the Glass Hall where all the guests were waiting for the State dinner to begin. We entered the hall. Rupert was greeted by the Prime Minister and had to let go of my arm. This threw me off balance; and I could feel myself falling in slow motion. And fall I did. I could see, from the corner of my eye, Jacob running to catch me; but, he was too late. My arms were flaying around to try and gain balance; but instead of helping, I knocked over the suit of armour. This caused the spear to go right through the suckling pig. I could see the Queen hit the boiling point. She turned around on her heels and walked away from the party as fast as her feet would take her.

After the fiasco with the pig, I, together with Rupert, was lead out to allow time for them to clean up. We would then be escorted in again. Once outside the room, I quickly sat down.

"Clarisse, my dear, are you alright? What happened?" Rupert asked concerned.

"I've attended thousands of lessons with your mother. I was taught how to sit, talk, eat and walk for this event; but never in shoes with high heels!" I answered crying.

Rupert sat down in front of me, lifted up my chin, and wiped the tear that was falling. "I don't care what caused it; I'm only interested in knowing if you are alright?" He asked. I nodded and smiled at him.

"Good, and with the spear from the suit of armour through the pig, I don't have to do anything to lighten up the mood at this dinner. So, thank you my dear." He said and kissed my hand.

Twenty minutes later we entered the glass hall again and attended the dinner as if nothing happened. The Queen, however, never returned that evening.

About a month after the state dinner incident, The Genovian Times published a picture of me and Rupert about to kiss. He was on a horse and I was on the ground tiptoeing to kiss him. A quick photographer captured it all, except for the actual kiss. This did not please the Queen. She had not spoken to me since the dinner disaster, so I was surprised when I was called to her office the day the picture was taken. She didn't have much to say – only that Rupert and I were only to be seen together from this point on at official affairs.

Rupert got that changed and we went on vacation - for a month! It was very relaxing; and I had never felt better. That quickly changed as soon as we got home were called to the Queen's office to explain why Rupert had left my room at 4:30 in the morning with the same clothes on as the day before with messed up hair.

"I would like an explanation from you two right now?" She said while holding up the pictures that that had been displayed of Rupert in the paper.

"I'm leaving Clarisse's room and that's all!" Rupert answered.

"Why are you leaving HER room at 5 am?" The Queen asked coldly.

"Because I wanted to sleep in my own room! And it was at 4:30!" He answered with impertinence.

"Do not try to be smart with me young man. What were you doing in HER room?" The queen questioned again.

"Mother, would you relax, we had been out to dinner. We went back to the cottages and we all went into Clarisse's to play a round of cards. We started talking and I feel asleep in a chair. I woke up at 4:30 and decided to go back to my own to get some sleep in a bed instead of a chair - end of story!" Rupert said calmly and with a hint of giving up.

"You have no business in her room or cottage or anywhere until you are married!" She said harshly. Rupert just rolled his eyes at his mother while holding my hand, stroking it gently.

"Rupert I mean it, the entire country think you two are……that you are………uhm……..that you two are…………" She stammered.

"……having sex! Yes, I've figured that much; and so what! Let them think what they want. We don't care! We are just trying to get to know each other; and I do not mean intimately. We are simply talking and enjoying each other's company. We will get to the intimacy part once we've said our dos!" Rupert said as he stood, pulling me to my feet.

"You do not care about what the country, your country, thinks about you?" She asked shocked.

"No. Not in the least; and I'm impressed that you haven't found out that we see Genovia as OUR country. Now, mother, if you will excuse us, we have some business to attend. We will see you at dinner!" He waved to her over his shoulder as he pulled me gently after him.

As soon as the doors to her office closed, he pulled me into his arms and dipped me while placing his lips softly on mine to share a soft and sweet kiss. When we pulled apart, he looked deeply into my eyes.

"What the crown doesn't know won't hurt it!" He said and winked at me leaving me with a feeling of butterflies in my stomach. I think this must be the feeling of being in love, or maybe it's because I'm thinking about Rupert putting his mother in her place. Perhaps it could be a combination of all those things…I don't know.

To be continued…..


	5. Wedding Bells and Honeymoon Jitters

**Hi again all, well I finally got to continue this story - let me apologise for the long long long wait!!! But I hope that you will enjoy this chapter – even though I have let it go into some more adult contents. Hope you will forgive me!!! And thank you so very much to Shakayla for beta'ing on this story!!!! Love you to death for it!!!!**

**Enjoy**

* * *

**Wedding Bells and Honeymoon Jitters**

So...I am no longer known as Lady Clarisse Gerard. No, for the past two weeks I have been referred to as Clarisse Gerard Renaldi, Crown Princess of Genovia. Rupert and I have just started on the last week on our honeymoon. Thus far I have experienced so many new things. I have learned much about what being a wife _and_ Crown Princess will mean for me.

The wedding was perfect, even though the Queen had arranged most of it. I had been insistent when she also wanted a say regarding my dress. But due to my stubbornness in this matter, I got the dress I wanted. It was a beautiful dress with a lace and silk bodice. There were small, very light pink roses placed strategically on the bodice with a taffeta skirt. My veil was the piece used by the Renaldi line for hundreds of years with the tradition of a new piece added at each wedding. It was a beautiful tradition that I was honoured to be a part of.

The King asked me if I would wear some of the crown jewels; but I wanted to wear my mother's earrings and necklace. Fortunately, he was more understanding than the Queen, so he asked to see them and had a tiara made for me, in the same style - it was simply beautiful. I look forward to the day that I can hopefully pass it on to my daughter or granddaughter.

When my father saw me, there were tears in his eyes; but I didn't say anything because I knew he was trying to hide them. "My little Clarisse; you look so grown up," he said softly.

"Thank you, Papa," I answered just as softly

His large hand cupped my cheek while his thumb gently brushed it, "I know this is something we, your mother and I, chose for you; but I realize now how much this will change your life. I must ask you; do you really want to do this?" A single tear broke free and flowed slowly down his cheek at his words.

I could feel the doubt and worry spread in my body. Was this really what I wanted? Did I really want to marry Rupert? I have so many dreams and ideas that I wanted to experience. Would I still be able to do any of them? All of these questions kept running through my head.

I suddenly heard my father's voice again, "Clarisse. Clarisse, my darling, are you alright?" He could not hide the worry in his voice.

"Nothing papa, nothing at all; I was just trying to picture my life after this wedding. I was searching for an answer to your question; and yes, yes this is something I want to do!" I answered very determined.

My father cupped my cheek once again and looked me in the eyes, "You do know everything that this role and title implies? He asked more than concerned.

"Yes papa, Rupert told me everything!" I smiled in answer to his question

"Rupert? He told you? So he was the one…oh my dear daughter, I just hope you are sure!" He pressed his lips to my forehead. I was a little confused by his statement. Before I could ask him about it though, he spoke again, "I'll leave you to gather your thoughts for a little while. I'll be back to lead you to the altar!" He smiled and closed the door.

A short ten minutes later, he was walking me down the aisle. When the doors to the church opened, I could see Rupert standing at the other end waiting for me. He was in full dress uniform; the traditional uniform for the Genovian royal guard. The wedding arch started and my father and I made our way down the aisle. I kept eye contact with Rupert all the way and the closer I got the more obvious it became to me; how touched he was by this moment. I started feeling guilty for not feeling it as strongly as he. I could see tears in his eyes; his smile broadened the closer I got to the altar. We stopped right in front of Rupert; my father kissed me on both cheeks and quickly kneeled. He turned to Rupert, gave him my hand and kneeled again as he had been instructed. He then walked over and took his place besides my mother. Rupert and I continued towards the altar taking the final four steps. We ascended the steps and turned to our left to kneel before the King and Queen. We then rose again and walked hand in hand until we were seated on the two stoles.

Rupert leaned towards me, "Do you know how beautiful you look?" He whispered

"Yes I do!" I whispered in an effort humour him. It worked.

"Feeling confident today are we?" He subtly laughed. I nodded and smiled.

He continued, "What if I tell you that there are at least two million people following your every step right now; and about 267 women hoping that you will fall flat on your face or that either you or I say no!" I stiffened with huge eyes; and he just smiled back at me.

I admired the beautiful church as the ceremony began. Under the hymns, we small talked; holding hands all the way through. I was feeling more and more nervous. I think that Rupert could feel it; because he kept telling me that it would be alright. The priest then motioned for us to stand. We made our way over to the altar to start the marriage ritual. Within minutes we were officially husband and wife.

The priest smiled and said to Rupert, "You may now kiss the bride!"

A huge smile spread across both our lips as Rupert cupped my face in his hands and brought his lips down on mine. I found it difficult to kiss while smiling; but somehow we managed to share a very romantic kiss that was just perfect. When we turned to walk out, however, I caught the Queen's face in the corner of my eye and she didn't look pleased. We continued back down the aisle with smiles on our faces and out of the church where we were met by thousands of people waving with hands and flags. We stood out on the stairs in front of the church and waved back to all the people as we waited for the carriage to come and take us through the city and up to the palace for the reception.

While we waited, Rupert suddenly kissed me. It created a small shock; but I noticed the joy it brought to the crowd, I follow his lead and leaned into the kiss. It was a short kiss as I saw no need to bring all of Genovia into our marriage more than necessary, some things should remain private.

During the carriage ride around town, we waved at the thousands and thousands of people, while at the same time we tried to make it something special just for us. We did this by holding hands and talking about what we saw along the way. One hour later, we arrived at the palace, tired and hungry. We were met first thing by the Queen's aide, Karen who advised us that the Queen wanted to see us before we attended the reception.

I looked at Rupert with disturbing thoughts running through my head, "She wants to talk to us now!?" I whispered.

"Karen, do you have any idea what she wants?" Rupert asked her. She just shook her head no.

"Rupert, she can't annul the marriage can she?" I asked, somewhat frightened

"No. No she can't. She has a lot of power but not that kind of power. Besides, I won't let her do anything. I'll abdicate if she pulls a trick; so don't worry about that my dear!" He answered back softly and kissed the tip of my nose.

We walked up to her office and entered at her instruction to come in. She was standing with her back to the door and turned as soon as she heard the door close. "What do you think you two were doing? I've been planning the most fantastic wedding of the century and neither of you even noticed anything inside the church. You were talking with each other the entire time and holding hands. And that kiss was totally inappropriate; it was to long and too personal! I never want to see anything like that from you two ever again. Understood?" She hissed the last out.

Rupert's eyes showed anger and I could feel him tightening his grip on my hand. His breathing got heavy, "No mother, not understood! We do this how we want to do this - not how it has been done in Genovia for the past 500 years. We did enjoy the wedding. Thank you mother for planning it; but the rest is all about how we want it. Is that clear? Now, if you will excuse us, we have guests waiting!"

Rupert turned around still holding my hand. I felt like I should say something; but then decided that enough had been said. Besides, Rupert had thanked her for all of her work; so I followed him out the door.

Just outside the door he turned to me, "Clarisse, will you still be with me if I decide not to accept the throne?" He took both of my hands in his.

"Yes Rupert, of course I will. I just promised you till death do us part and I intend to honour that promise! But I know that this is what you want - to rule our beloved Genovia!" I said

"Yes that is one of the things I want, but not on the expense of my wife!" He smiled and let go of my hands only to grab my face and kiss me. This time I let him deepen the kiss; I could taste the vine he sipped before entering the church. I could smell his cologne and feel every curve and shape of his lips and body.

We parted slowly as neither of us wanted to end the kiss; but knew we had to. "I love that I can call you my wife - you are mine, all mine! So my dear wife we have guests that await our arrival. Shall we go?" He extended his arm to me and I took it with a smile on my lips.

We finally got to leave the wedding party at one in the morning. We ran up to our room and quickly changed. My ladies maids were waiting for me in my dressing room; but I excused them with my thanks. I decided that I would finish faster by myself. I was right and I was done in record time.

My quick appearance shocked Rupert, "Oh my darling, done already? I didn't think you would be finished so quickly. What did you do allow your maids to rip the dress off of you? He joked while checking his pockets for something.

"No. I just thought that I would finish faster by myself; and, voila, I did. I must admit, though, the dressing room is a mess! Should I go pick it up before we leave?" I suddenly asked a little concerned. I was mostly worried about my wedding dress just lying there on the floor like a pool of silk.

"No, darling the maids will handle that. Let's just get going. I can't wait to be all alone with you!" He said with a hint of desire in his voice. He smiled brightly when he obviously found what he had been looking for. He hastened over and grabbed my hand almost pulling me towards the door.

He stopped right before opening the door and took one step back to look at me, "Why are you wearing that outfit?" He questioned

"Why? What do you mean?" I said while uncomfortably running my hands down the chocolate brown jacket to the cream coloured skirt with the chocolate brown edging.

"Yes why?" He repeated.

"Uh…… oh…….because I liked it. I know you told me that I could have anything that I wanted. I saw this outfit in the closet when I first came here and I didn't want to wear it until I found the right occasion; and I thought that it was just perfect for now!" I answered sadly.

"You really like it?" He asked with questioning eyes. I nodded.

"I picked that outfit out for you, I thought that it would fit your skin colour perfect and hug your body all the right places; and, I must say, it definitely does! I thought you didn't like it since you never wore it." He smiled

"Oh Rupert I love it. It was the prettiest of all those in the closet! You really picked it out?" I tilted my head towards him and he nodded with a boyish grin on his face. I jumped up and threw my arms around his neck and kissed him. I could feel his hands on my sides at first but they quickly started to wander. When his hands reached my rear, I could truly feel his body responding. It shocked me a little, so I pulled back slowly as to not let him sense my fear. I was more than a little surprised that I had an effect on him like that.

"Let me buy you more clothes if I get this kind of thank you every time! Now let us go so we can finish what this kiss started!" He winked at me and I started to blush.

On our way out to the waiting limousine, we were showered with rice. People were shouting their happy wishes for us. I threw my bridal bouquet and we practically jumped into the back of the car to avoid too much of the rice following inside.

When the door closed, my bodyguard, Joseph and Rupert's guard, Eric provided our escort to the airport. They were riding up front. Eric turned around, "Your highnesses, we will have to wait a few minutes before leaving. Your families want to give you a true wedding parting; they are, right now, decorating the car with all that entails!" He informed us.

"Thank you Eric. If that is all, we would like the partition up. Thank you." Rupert said softly while staring at me.

"Of course your Highness, and congratulations!" Joseph said as he pushed the button to raise the privacy screen.

The moment it was fully closed, Rupert's lips were on mine. He had one arm around my shoulders and the other around my waist. My arms were around him as well. I was doing the best I could; mostly I was trying to interpret all of these new feelings. Suddenly I felt the car start moving; my husband's hand continued to move as they were running down my thigh, over my knee to stop and go back the same way. On the return trip, his hand slid under my skirt. I broke the kiss; and he stopped his actions and looked at me a little confused, "What's wrong, Clarisse?" He asked.

"Oh nothing is wrong, darling, it's just that this is all so new and it's moving so fast!" I answered.

"Sorry darling, I didn't mean to push you; it's just because it's been over a year since you and I first met and I've been fighting my desires for so long to not touch you. Now when I finally can, I forget to ask for your permission!" He apologised.

"Can we just sit here, relax and talk a little?" I looked up at him.

"Of course, I'll sit on my hands if I have to!"

"No need for that, Rupert; but I would like you to tell me why you said that 267 women wouldn't want us to marry?"

"Because that was the number of families my parents chose between when I was born. They felt they needed to secure the Renaldi family line. My parents chose your family. When I found out how many they had been through, I investigated, just for fun, and learned that every single family besides yours had a baby girl as their first child!" He offered.

"Are you disappointed? Why are you telling me all of this?" I questioned.

"Not at all my love not at all. Don't take it the wrong way - I couldn't be happier!" He said. His information having been shared, he forgot about our deal to just sit and relax, and began kissing and touching me again. I really didn't mind it; he was a great kisser. When he deepened the kiss, nothing mattered any more. His hand was on my hip, massaging it lightly. I could feel a special warmth creeping up through my body. All I wanted was for this car ride to never end; but as soon as I had that thought, we heard Joseph's voice over the speaker telling us that we were at the airport.

We made sure that we looked presentable before we exited the car. Again hundreds of reporters and photographers were present; but we were hurried into the plane. I was very thankful for that; I didn't have the energy to answer anymore questions. We turned and waved at the top of the staircase and went inside. We were seated and advised that we would be taking off within the next twenty minutes. We thanked the flight attendant and she left us alone. Rupert put his arms around me, "Darling let me show you around on this plane before we take off; because then you won't have time to see it!" He said as he winked at me and placed a tender kiss on my neck.

Rupert showed me everything in the plane; the sitting area, the conference room, the bathroom, the kitchen, and the bedrooms. The final room he showed me was a bedroom - ours for the night. It was beautiful. It looked like a real bedroom not something you would expect to find on a plane. It was decorated in cream, nougat and gold colours with light pink roses everywhere possible.

"Do you like it darling?" Rupert asked.

"Do I? It's beautiful. Don't tell me you decorated it!" I questioned him.

"No I didn't. It is just a copy of our bedroom at the palace once we get back. It's being redecorated while we are away, so it's going to look just like this! He told me.

"It is truly beautiful. But why redecorate the room we are going to live in? I remember that during one of my many lessons with your mother, I read something about a full renovation of the entire palace not so many years ago!" I turned in his arms and tilted my head.

"It is my father's wedding gift to us. We better take our seats so we can take off. I want to return here as fast as possible!" He said while letting his hands run up and down my body. He leaned in for a kiss and our lips locked in a passionate kiss for several minutes before taking our seats.

About a half hour after takeoff, we could loosen our seatbelts and move around freely. I had only just taken my seatbelt off before Rupert pulled me up and lightly dragged me towards the bedroom.

"Rupert - relax! Please my shoes won't follow your pace!" I laughed

"I'm sorry Clarisse. I just can't wait to be alone, all alone with you!" He almost moaned.

"But I thought we would wait until we arrived at our hotel!" I said with hope.

"Uh ……oh we can wait! No problem my dear. If you want to…wait, then that's what we'll do!" He said with difficulty.

"But I am very tired!" I admitted.

"Then come let's go lie down!" Rupert offered very quickly.

I looked at him with a hint of disbelief and he quickly tried to defend himself "No. No, I really mean, let's go lie down!" He explained; but his building desire was easy to trace even for an inexperienced young woman.

But despite his growing desire, the minute his head hit the pillow, he fell asleep. I spent the next twenty minutes just looking at my husband. Yes - my husband, it was actually nice to be able to call him that. Being able to lie here and study him like this is a privilege. It gives me a chance to get everything in order inside my head. I find him extremely attractive with his dark features and blinding smile; his muscular body, his green eyes and….yes everything about him. I know that I, at some point, will be intimate with him, however, it is the middle of the night and we are both dead tired. I continued to study his face while he slept and finally drifted into a peaceful sleep myself sometime later.

I don't remember too much after that other than waking to Rupert's lips and hands. He was kissing me and I was responding with just the same fire as he. His hands were everywhere on me. I could feel his right hand working on the buttons of my jacket. I put my hand on top of his to stop his actions; but he took it as a sign that I wanted to hold his hand. So I tried another tactic instead. I turned my head slightly, "Mmmhh….. Rupert, wait – wait! I thought we agreed about waiting!" I said breathlessly.

"I know Clarisse, I know; but I don't think I can!" He breathed

"Rupert, I'm scared!" I admitted

"Scared darling - of what?" He asked affectionately.

"Of all of this - I've never been with anyone before. I mean intimately. You are the first man I've ever kissed! I don't know what to do. I get scared when my body reacts to your caress!" I admit as I sit up and look away.

Rupert sat up beside me and ran his hand up and down my back, "Will you let me lead you? Let me love you? I promise you that I'll stop if you say so!" He looked me in the eye seeking my permission to continue. I answered him with a nod.

He pulled me down slowly onto the bed and leaned in and kissed me. They were feather light kisses placed on my lips. I suddenly felt my arms instinctively reach up and place themselves around his neck. He responded by deepening the kiss. I felt his tongue pressing lightly and licking on my lips. Somehow I knew he wanted me to open my mouth. I could feel our tongues dance an unfamiliar dance. It made my body float on a cloud of warmth and good feelings.

Rupert moved his hand in sync with our kisses and loosened the buttons one by one, opening my jacket up to reveal a cream coloured silk top. He let his hand move under my jacket from my belly and up over my breast to my shoulder and pushed the jacket off. His hand then returned to my breast.

When he cupped my breast, he broke the kiss and looked at me and smiled, "Darling, no bra! What a pleasant surprise!" His voice sounded somewhat darker than before.

"A surprise? What….I……I just didn't think it was necessary with the top. I'm glad you agree and I'm very glad you like it!" I was still very nervous about all of this, but so far he seemed to be pleased with me…and I knew that made me happy.

"Like it! I love it! I was secretly hoping you weren't wearing one. You certainly don't need one as your breasts are perfect, my love." His hand rose slightly to gently brush against my now sensitive breasts. "Clarisse you are more than beautiful!" He said and placed his lips upon mine once more.

Before I had a chance to say anything further, his hand continued its journey down my body. It created a pleasurable sensation that brought out from me, almost as on cue, a small sound that I have never made before. Seconds later, however, I repeated the same sound as his hand reached the hem of my skirt and moved beneath it and started a heated trail back up my thigh towards my centre. Just the thought of him touching me there was somewhat frightening, but exciting at the same time. I had confessed my naivety to one of my sister-in-laws just after my engagement, asking her for some advice on this part of marriage. Although she had briefly touched on this subject, I must admit that I was still a little scared. My curiosity, however, was now outweighing my fear. Rupert was being very gentle and I didn't even realize that his fingertips now rested lightly against my panty line. Just as I begin to anticipate his touch, he quickly removed his hand from under my skirt and sat up. His hands immediately go to the fastening of my skirt and begins undoing the small buttons that hold it in place over my lower body.

"Rupert, stop! Just wait for one second!" I exclaimed all out of breath

"What darling?" He asked me; his breath coming at a faster rate as well.

"You are moving too fast. It's all very sudden, I don't know about any of this!" I said sitting up myself wrapping my arms around my now bare knees.

"Oh darling, I'm so sorry. It's just because you are so beautiful, I have waited so long to be able to call you mine. We've been away on vacation together; which, may I add, had the entire country and my mother believing that we were already being intimate. I found that I could think that it was only hopeful thinking on my part that we had shared such a moment already. Ever since we first shared a kiss, I have had to resort to taking long, cold showers to get through a day. I was able to hold on though as I told myself that each day brought me one step closer to the wedding. Every night when I went to bed, I was almost shaking from the thought of touching you, kissing you, making love to you. I trembled especially when I thought of making love to you tonight. If you will let me, I'll make sure that your first time will be a fond memory!" He heartily said.

I looked at him very intently and could see, in his eyes that he meant what he had just said with all of heart and soul. I could also see that this was true even if his mind was a little clouded from his noticeable desire. My eyes lowered to avoid his smouldering gaze and noted that his desire was very evident in his body as well as his eyes. I became embarrassed that I couldn't seem to remove my focus from his lower half; but enjoyed the fact that I knew his hard to cover desire was solely for me.

I nodded quickly to give my consent and turned so my back was to him. I could feel him coming closer and felt his hands on my shoulders. His mouth was warm against me as he began pressing light kisses to my temple. As he leaned in to kiss my cheek, I could feel his erection pressing into my side. I immediately felt a blush cover my cheeks, I didn't know what to do with myself, and was very glad that Rupert was taking the lead in this matter.

He tilted my head backwards to kiss me fully on the lips and pressed gently on my shoulder, indicating that I should lie down. I did what he asked and he quickly moved in beside me. Again, I could feel the physical evidence of his desire. Before I could adjust to the feel of him next to me, he abruptly stood. He continued to stand there simply staring at me. Without a spoken word, he removed his clothing quickly. The abruptness of his actions startled me for a moment; but then I saw him standing there, completely unclothed, a beautiful specimen of the male body. He didn't speak, but his gaze seemed to be silently asking me to remove my remaining clothing. To his surprise; and perhaps a bit to my own, I complied. Although it took me a few moments more, I removed my top and the lace panties and returned to my former position on the bed. In a flash, his body was next to mine, a look of wonder on his face as he gazed at my nude form,

"What are you doing my darling?" he asked wide eyed.

"I thought this was what you wanted!" I quivered, feeling the tears starting to form in my eyes.

"Oh darling it was, it was! Please don't misunderstand me. Seeing you taking off your clothes almost sent me over the edge!" He paused to catch his breath in an effort to control his body, "and it's not so much about what I want; it's not even about what you want. Tonight is about what we want, together!" He flashed me one of his smiles that made me relax completely

He leaned into kiss me, and we shared a kiss that lit a fire in my body. I could feel the urge to do something, but I didn't know what it was. What should I do? Should I just do as my sister in-law had told me, '_lay flat on your back and spread your legs…he'll know what to do.' _No. As Rupert said, this was about us together, I'm sure he'll guide me. I had only just finished that thought when he moved above me and started kissing and licking his way down my body. His mouth turned its attention to my breasts. His kisses were hot and wet on my skin leaving a burning trail wherever it had been. He continued sucking and nipping on one breast, while his hand was massaging the other. He then alternated sides to give attention to the other breast. Then I felt his knee pressing down between my legs. As soon as I had let one leg between, his other followed. I sharply inhaled when I could feel his hard-on pressing on my thigh. I drew my head back and looked him in the eyes.

"Rupert I'm not sure what to do," I whispered.

"Don't worry; darling, just do what you feel like. Kiss me if you want, hold me, or let me make this pleasurable for the both of us. If there's something you don't want just say so and I'll stop." He answered caringly.

I think I nodded and again felt his lips and tongue on my body; this time on a journey downwards. A kiss was placed over my navel and then he continued down. My eyes flew open when I felt his tongue come in contact with my centre. A mix of warm feelings and confusion rose up through my body. I started moving away to break the contact; and when that was accomplished Rupert's eyes met mine. "Rupert, I….I…..I can't do…." I tried

"Clarisse, do you want me to stop?" He asked.

"I don't know!" Tears started to flow

"Do you want to go through with this? Do you just want to get it over with? Or would you rather I just leave you alone?" He asked.

"Oh Rupert, I'm so sorry. It is just so new, I don't know what to do. I don't know what all this is; there are so many new feelings. I really want to give myself to you; but you touching me…uhm, there, I just don't know!" I said

"I completely understand, my dear; but please let me help you through this and just enjoy. Let yourself loose, let your body speak, let it lead you to what you feel like doing, both giving and receiving!" He offered.

I nodded and he continued what he had been doing and I tried to relax. The more I relaxed into his touch the more the feelings washed over me like a flood. My head felt like it was spinning each time his tongue flexed over my aroused rosebud; and when he slipped his finger in my entrance, I felt as if I was exploding and a soft moan escaped my lips. I didn't even notice that Rupert was looking down at me smiling. When I finally noticed, I blushed a little. He placed his lips over mine. I could feel more of his weight settling over me and I could feel his member pressing even further into my softness. His kiss was hot, gentle and extremely pleasurable. Involuntarily, my hands went to his head and ruffled his hair while answering to his kiss. I must have done it well; because Rupert started moaning. I felt him pressing at my entrance and I spread my legs a little more as he began to enter with ease at my opening. Then I panicked. My sister in-law had told me about the pain: the blood and the awful feeling I would have when the man just continued pleasuring himself.

Sensing my fear, Rupert broke the kiss and looked at me, "Do you want me to stop? Just tell me."

"I'm just scared!" I admitted and smiled nervously

"Don't be. I'll be gentle!" He smiled back

He kept eye contact as he pulled back a little and slowly pressed forward again. He continued this for a little while, each time with a little more pressure and entering a little deeper. Suddenly I felt something trickling down my buttocks; but I didn't pay anymore attention to it. I enjoyed this moment, and thanked God that I had married a gentle and loving man. I felt him withdraw and he lay down beside me and nuzzled my hair. I looked up in search of his eyes, I found them looking down at me, smiling, "Darling, I sure hope this was what you wanted to experience your first time." He whispered

"It was so much more than that. I had been told about pain, blood, and marital monsters." I answered back in a whisper.

"Never darling; I would never hurt you! But I don't think that we can say that there's no blood!" He said as he lifted the sheet a little.

I got red-faced from embarrassment, and I could feel the tears pressing to fall. Rupert lifted my face back up to level with his own eyes, "Don't think anything of it darling. It is very natural for the first time. I can promise you that it won't happen the next time!" He smiled at me.

"I'm just so embarrassed; I'll go clean up and strip down the bed and…!" I rambled on and on.

"Clarisse relax, all the maids and servants know about discretion." He explained.

"But what about the maid that takes care of this? I can never look her in the eyes again!"

"You won't even know who took care of it; so don't worry. Let's follow your first idea and go clean up and then my idea will be for us to get something to eat!" He said, smiling.

I just nodded; and in a flash, my husband was at his feet and on my side of the bed stretching out his hand towards me. Again I got embarrassed because there he was…naked and still clearly aroused. I couldn't take my eyes away from his lower body while rising.

"Don't worry darling, I promise you it's all yours!" He whispered, leaning in.

It did get better and better as Rupert promised me it would be. Now we are at the final week of our honeymoon and I can honestly say that he's kept his word…he said it would be all mine and it has been! I would love to see my mother-in-law's face if she knew how good we are together. We talk, smile, laugh, sleep and make love together like married people should do. I think she would hate it. We have also talked about what we want to concentrate on as a couple once we get home; and we both have Genovian children on our wish list, so that is going to be our main focus once back home, but for now we'll concentrate on each other.

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**Thank you so much for reading this far! Please leave a word or two for me in the review. **


	6. Wanting and Waiting

**Thank you so much to aserene and Clarisse Renaldi for your wonderful reviews. I guess you girls forgave me for going into mature material!!! LOL I'm almost done with the next part, and I'm feeling very productive at the moment. Again a BIG thank you to Shakayla for helping me out and being my ever so patient beta!!! Love you!!!**

**So here goes nothing.**

**Enjoy.**

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****Wanting and Waiting...**

Time sure flies! Rupert and I have now been married about seven months and it feels like we've already been around the world twice visiting everyone and everything between heaven and earth. Perhaps we were a little overbooked - with functions, charity work, balls, meetings and work in general. For the past month or so neither Rupert nor I have had a workday that was less than sixteen hours. I don't know how we are going to enjoy each other with workdays like this. Of course we have been working together; but somehow we manage to separate our work from our time alone together. Our ability to do that is very nice. Once we close the door to our suite, we don't talk about work; but try to focus on what we want together for the future or even that very moment.

After we returned from our honeymoon, we started working out a plan for the children of Genovia as we had agreed upon that would be our main concern. We made a really fantastic plan that would be for children of all ages. We hoped to be able to get the plans finalized within two months; but it took a little longer to organize than we originally thought. The delay was mostly because, in the beginning, we got interrupted all the time. This resulted in us not always achieving the goal we had set for each day. Of course, there were all the balls that Queen Maude arranged under the pretence of wanting to show off her newly wed son and his wife. Finally, it was finished and had been running for about two months. We were already told that there had already been improvements and progress, so we hope to continue what we are doing so that Genovian children will be among the world's elite when it comes to education.

The relationship between Queen Maude and I has not improved any; a week after our return she came to my office, "Clarisse I want to have a word with you now." She announced

"I'm sorry Monsieur Claude, I will have to return your call later - a meeting has just come up," I apologised to my phone call, hung up and looked over at the Queen.

"Clarisse, are you with child?" She asked suddenly, not even looking at me.

"I'm sorry…mother?" I half laughed.

She looked sternly at me; and I tried to find an expression that wouldn't agitate her further. "I asked you if you are with child," her harsh voice matching her expression.

"No mother, I am not with child and we are not planning on that for at least a year." I answered proudly.

"What nonsense girl; of course you will be with child soon. It is your duty to give Genovia her heir to the throne!" She huffed again not looking at me.

"I don't know if it's my duty but….."

"Of course it's your duty. That is the only task you have here besides supporting my son in all of his decisions!" She interrupted.

"Well Rupert seems to think otherwise; as do I!" I firmly stated.

"I do not care. You are to produce the next heir to the Genovian throne and that's all there is to it!" She spat while rising from the chair.

"I thought Genovia already had its next heir," I calmly stated.

"Rupert will need a son to follow him," she said

"We will have children, mother; but we agreed upon waiting about a year so we could enjoy some time with just him and I before we start our family. I'm sorry if you can't accept that…it is our decision." I explained and rose from behind my desk and walked towards the door.

"Where do you think you are going? We are talking!" The Queen loudly stated.

"No we are finished for now, Mother. I have a lot of work and I have a meeting with Rupert in five minutes so I do not have anymore time to discuss something that has already been decided and that you will not have a say in it!" I said and left the room.

"The people of Genovia will demand an heir within a year!" She yelled after me. All I could do was head straight to Rupert's office to let out some steam.

I quickly arrived at his office door and knocked and I entered at his 'come'. When I looked around the door, Rupert looked to see who it was. When he registered it was me, he immediately rose from his desk and dismissed his secretary and aide. I followed them, with my eyes, as they walked out the door, as did Rupert. His eyes followed them, but he was moving towards me.

When the door closed, I was in his arms sharing a loving kiss which soon deepened. We backed up against the newly closed door and I could feel Rupert's already growing erection pressing into me. I gave a small outburst of surprise when he suddenly lifted me up and guided my legs around his hips; he pulled back a little and looked at me while running his hand up my arm.

"Oh God, Clarisse, I've thought about you all day!" Rupert panted.

"It's only been two hours since we emerged from our suite." I giggled.

"I know darling, but ever since the minute I kissed you and we went to our separate offices, I've missed you, your kisses, your touch, your everything!" He said quickly.

"Then why don't we work in the same room, darling?" I questioned

"Because we wouldn't get anything done; I would be all over you all the time. We wouldn't even be able to have anyone else in the room. If we did, we would embarrass them all the time. I would do this!" He said and kissed my mouth, "and this…" he kissed my neck… "and this…" unbuttoning my shirt "and this!" pulling it from my skirt. I claimed his lips and he carried me over to the sitting area in his office where he laid me down on the sofa covering my body quickly. We were kissing and fondling each other like there was no tomorrow. We didn't even notice that someone had entered the room until Rupert let his hand run up my leg under my skirt pushing it higher…then we were interrupted by a cough. We looked up and there was the Queen.

"Well I'm pleased to see that you at least are working on giving Genovia her heir; even if it is in your office, my dear!" She said satisfied.

Rupert rose from his position on top of me pulling me with him. As soon as we were standing, I turned around to close my shirt and make myself presentable again. I listened to Rupert who continued to stand there with his shirt open, untidy hair and still maintaining a strong erection, facing his mother. "Have you never heard of knocking? Didn't you think that it wasn't the proper time to enter when you noticed my secretary, aide, and bodyguards outside?" He challenged.

"Darling, there is no need to get upset; I just came into see if you were alright!" She said and reached out to touch his face, but he stopped her hand.

"Do not do that. I am no longer a little boy. I'm a grown man who was in the middle of an intimate moment with my wife, leave!" He now yelled.

"Ok darling, I will see you at dinner." She said as if nothing happened and left.

Rupert was breathing hard and was annoyed. I put a hand on his shoulder which he covered with his own and ran his thumb back and forth a couple of times before turning his head to look at me, "I'm sorry darling; I think we'll have to take a rain check on a little intimate time together until bedtime." He smiled

"Well I think we can manage until then. We did enjoy each other this morning, so I think we can wait." I kissed his cheek and left for my own office, leaving the door open to let the staff know it was safe to enter again. They all had smirks on their face when I opened the door, but I have already learned to ignore it.

We've had plenty of encounters since that day in both Rupert's and my office, some louder than others; but we do work well together and we work hard because straightening out Genovia's education system is a cause that is very dear to both of us. We are very determined to have all the children in Genovia get the best education; whether they are orphan or not…we want them all, at some point, to be equal.

Rupert hasn't stopped trying to agitate or embarrass his mother at a ball or any other functions that are dear to his mother. He seems to want something to happen that will embarrass her which often results in my head on the block as well, because I am almost always right by his side, so she always thinks that I'm part of it. This seems to make her dislike…no hate…me even more. Not only am I married to her only son, I'm also not pregnant. Add to that the fact that I have embarrassed her in the past.

But no matter what the Queen thinks of me, Rupert and I are enjoying each other immensely.

When we had been married for four months and the press hadn't received any news regarding the Crown Prince and Princess being pregnant, they started speculating. We enjoyed their stories and theories immensely. Also apparently when no one from the press had seen us in two days or more, they assumed we either had taken off on a vacation to forget that we weren't pregnant or on a vacation to get pregnant. There was, of course, speculation that we were finally pregnant and that plans were being made to determine the how, what, when and where for the announcement. They had even gone so far as to talk to about sixty percent of the doctors in Genovia to try and find out if any of them had recently had an unexpected royal visit.

One morning our servants brought us our breakfast in our suite. When they left we took it into the bed and started to read through the enormous stack of papers that arrived every morning. Normally, we usually didn't read these until we reached our offices; but this morning the palace staff had thought that we would want to see the paper before the Queen and King. On the front page of each paper was a headline that indicated that I was pregnant and promised pictures inside.

The headlines ranged from "_Finally"_ to "_Pitter Patter". _The funniest was the alleged pregnancy reveal photo: It was a picture of me stretching out on the balcony of our suite really early in the morning. Rupert is behind me putting his arms around my midsection with his hands resting on my stomach…with a second picture of him wrapping them completely around me. He was nuzzling my neck. The final picture was of him carrying me back inside. Apparently, according to the press, that was a sign of pregnancy. We had a great laugh about it and couldn't wait until the Queen read it knowing what her reaction would be. The minute after she had gotten the newspaper, she sought us out to determine if it was true. We told her it wasn't true…her response was something along the lines of, "…then get started!"

We are sticking to our plan to not get pregnant before we both want to as right now we both want to concentrate on the unfortunate children in Genovia. Two months ago we opened a new orphanage and school all in one. It was amazing to see how happy most of these children became just from receiving a simple little bag for their schoolbooks or a pencil…just something that was theirs.

It was very touching; especially a little girl that took to Rupert instantly. When she had been handed her schoolbag with all of the treasures inside, she ran over to where we were standing and hugged my leg. She looked up at Rupert who lowered to a chair to be closer to her level. She quickly said thank you and threw herself around his neck. He returned her hug and lifted her up to hold her on his arm for almost an hour while talking and laughing, carrying her around until it was time to leave. As we left, all I could think of was how great Rupert looked with a child on his arm and how he is going to be a great father.

After we opened the first new orphanage, we went on the royal family's annual spring cruise to visit all the countries that imports Genovia pears. It was not, however, a dream being on a ship with your mother in-law who apparently hates you. Even though I was living at the palace last year when this event took place, I did not attend. As a result, I was a little excited to try this and, of course, see so many different countries.

When we first left the harbour, I was glad that this was only something we had to once a year. The ship was slowly rocking just enough for me to feel sick. The Queen took advantage of this and started commenting when we ate. She was mocking me and continued to taunt me with overly enjoying her food…which only made me sicker. It seemed to me that every comment she made towards me had a hint of 'if only you were pregnant…' and I was getting tired of it.

One night Rupert and I had retired. I turned in bed and just stared at him until he noticed.

"Darling, what is wrong?" He asked concerned.

"Your mother." I answered.

"Oh darling, please do not let her bother you. She just wants to have it her way." He said and kissed me on the cheek.

"I'm trying Rupert, I really am; but I can't take this constant harassment about not being pregnant. I don't even think that is what really bothers her…I think she's jealous." I complained.

"Why do you say that?" Rupert laughs

"Oh Rupert, don't say that you can't see it. She is so annoyed that we are married. Perhaps she wouldn't have married you herself; but I think she regrets that she chose me. I'm tired of her complaining, interrupting, the way she looks at me, the way she speaks to me and just the way she is. I'm sorry Rupert; I know she is your mother, but I have to be honest…she truly hates me!" I stated.

"Darling, what does my mother's opinion matter as long as we care about each other?" He asked and ran his hand gently down my face and rested it just above my breast.

"I don't know…it's just hard. I've always tried to see the best in all; but I'm sorry, I just can't find any in your mother." I said

Rupert sat up and pulled me up as well. He held my gaze for a long time. His stare was so intent that I got nervous that I might have just destroyed our relationship. I looked away…then he cupped my face and turned me so that we were again looking in each other's eyes.

"Clarisse I promise you a baby will change everything. A baby will make it all better. Can you stand this for at least six months more? I really want to enjoy our first year with it just being the two of us." He asked very sincerely.

"Of course I can dear, but please help me at times. She does it even when you are there; so if you will pay a little more attention to what she says, I think it will be easier." I begged.

"I promise Clarisse. Now, come here." He instructed as he pulled me into his arms and we lay down and fell fast asleep.

We have now been married for a little more than seven months and we are very happy. We are having fun together and work well together too. I'm also coping with the Queen. We are trying to stay as far away from her as possible and I have begged Rupert to not pull any tricks on his mother so we won't have that between us as there is already enough tension between us. As long as we are not expecting, I want to avoid her as much as possible as I do not want to be on her bad side anymore than I already am.

We are still planning the opening of the second orphanage and school and are really looking forward to getting it opened. Additionally, we have a few public events scheduled in the next couple of months including the annual Pear picking festival. After that, we have decided to take a week away from every thing once the orphanage is in order. We look forward to seeing what the press will make of that vacation.

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	7. So we had a bad year

**Thank you to Regina-sp, aserene, CJmynix and I luv Julie Andrews for your kind reviews I appreciate them. I would also like to thank Shakayla for all her work on beta-ing this for me, so its easier for you to read it!!!! LOL No thank you mama for doing this for me, love ya!!!! And thank you so much for the title of this part as well!!!**

**I hope you will enjoy this chappy, and I hope to have more for you all soon.**

**Enjoy:-)**

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**So we had a bad year...**

One year and two months - that is how long Rupert and I have been married now. We have been through a lot in these past seven months. Currently, we are relaxing on the island Mauritius just in an effort to get away from it all. We are by ourselves, except for Joseph and Walter, our security. We are enjoying ourselves immensely, even though it is hard to not think about all the things that have been happening in the past several months…

_Thinking back in time…_

It all started when we were ready to open the new orphanage. Everything seemed to go as planned so we made the opening an official event to celebrate. Apparently, someone didn't think that this should be a happy event. Right after Rupert and I had cut the red ribbon to the entrance, shots were fired. I felt Rupert's body fall hard against mine and I could feel him somewhat slump against me. I could hear a lot of yelling in the background; but there was one clear thing that I heard - Rupert moaning.

We were pulled away in different directions; and within seconds, I could no longer see him. A few seconds more, then I noticed my appearance. I was covered in blood and I instantly started screaming. This prompted Joseph and Jacob, who by now had me in safe custody, to check me over. I insisted, rather loudly, that I was fine! Besides being scared and knowing that my husband must be hurt, and hurt badly. I was scared because I was not with him; but they insisted. I then did something that was probably very odd. Something strange that Rupert would have enjoyed seeing and the effect it had on my security, but it is a move that I regret still to today. In my panic, I unzipped my dress and pulled it of quickly. I yelled at them to 'fine…have their look!' The minute my dress fell, Jacob turned around; but Joseph stayed put and walked over to me. He started looking all over for any signs of injury, but found none. Once he was satisfied, he bent down and pulled up my dress.

The minute his hand touched my shoulder I broke down, "I'm so sorry Joseph…Jacob; I'm just so scared!" I cried

"We know your highness. We'll try and contact Eric and find out how things stand!" They answered with a quiet and calm that I was not feeling.

"I…I felt Rupert's body fall hard against mine, pressing us into the doorframe. What happened?" I sobbed, with heavy tears running down my cheeks.

"I'm sorry, your highness. I believe he was covering you, to protect you, because we did not reach you in time" Jacob told me.

"You were too slow?" I whispered.

"YOU WERE TOO SLOW AND NOW MY HUSBAND MIGHT BE DEAD!" I yelled this time, while pounding my fists into Jacob's chest.

"Your highness, he is not dead. He may not be in the best condition; but he is not dead AND he is not going to die. Now, please, sit down and relax until we can leave!" Joseph ordered me with a forceful calm.

We waited two and a half hours before a car picked us up to take us back to the palace. I insisted, however, on going to the hospital where Rupert was being treated. I wanted to be with him. Joseph, who was in the back with me, could see that there was no need to try and talk me out of it. He was right. So, instead, he sent a message to the palace for new clothing to be waiting for me when we arrived at the hospital.

I sat in Rupert's hospital room, alone, looking out the window, waiting for him to wake up. The second I heard him groan, I was at his side holding and stroking his hand. "Hello darling, how are you?" I asked in almost a whisper

"Shh….you shouldn't call me that here; my wife might hear and she is madly in love with me. I would hate for her to have fight you!" He coughed out as he smiled at me.

"Rupert! How can you joke at a time like this? You almost died!" I asked firmly.

"I just don't practice sad times when they are not there, darling. I was only shot in the shoulder and that is nothing. All that matters is are you alright?" He asked concerned.

I nodded, leaned into him and kissed him. He wrapped his good arm around me and I could feel all the tension from his body leave in his hug - the tension that had built up when he did not know if I was hurt to or what had happened to me. His tension leaving caused mine to leave as well resulting in the shedding of tears of happiness. That led to the sharing of some more kisses.

Then he looked me in the eyes, "Clarisse, my darling, I know we made an agreement about when we should be having children; but I think the scenario has changed a bit. Should we try on having a child before the first year?" He asked

"I was thinking the same thing dear. I do not want to wait much longer, not with a thing like this possible! None of us know what might happen tomorrow!" I answered him immediately. We sealed our agreement with a kiss full of passion.

We got the orphanage opened and started on a new project for the youngest children right away. Here five months later, that project is almost finished as well. We are looking forward to being able to reveal it very soon…with major security, that is! We know that we must be there to open it ourselves. It is our hope that it was only the one man who, seven months ago, didn't want the monarchy to continue. He is now placed behind bars.

To continue our path of unfortunate events…I, one month before our first anniversary, fell ill - or at least that was what I thought. It was a completely normal morning; Rupert and I got out of bed and went to have breakfast as always. We talked about what we were doing that day then after breakfast, we went to our separate dressing rooms and emerged almost at the same time. Rupert was usually finished first…not having to add make up. He gave me a soft kiss on the cheek and left; but a few moments after he closed the door, I could feel that I was about to have the not so pleasant surprise of tasting my breakfast once more.

I ran to the bathroom where I immediately emptied the contents of my stomach in the porcelain bowl. I couldn't get up again. Every time I tried to leave the bathroom to go to the phone to call for my aide, I had to return to the bathroom.

About forty-five minutes later, I heard the door to our suite open. I could hear Rupert calling for me, "Clarisse darling? Clarisse? Clarisse are you up here?" He bellowed through the suite; but I didn't have the energy to answer.

Since I could hear him approach the bathroom, I just waited and kept staring right in front of me or into the toilet. Within a few moments, he looked into the bathroom and hurried over to where I sat on the floor.

"Clarisse, lay down darling. I'll call the doctor right away!" Rupert said hurriedly.

"No…no…no! I don't want to lie down. It hurts in my lower back and I'll throw up if I move!" I cried.

"Clarisse you have to lie down - you are bleeding!" He informed.

For the first time since I entered the bathroom, I looked down at myself. My skirt was soaked; and that's when I started panicking, "Rupert what is happening? Why am I bleeding?" I cried frantically.

"Don't know darling, I don't know!" He said trying to sooth me, while stroking my hair. I continued to cry. I jumped when he yelled for the guards and I don't remember them entering, but suddenly I was carried out of our suite and down the stairs by Rupert. I remember him cursing over the slow pace at which everyone was working and that he had to do everything himself. The next thing I remember is opening my eyes in the hospital…in the same room I visited Rupert in when he was shot.

At first, I thought I had been dreaming and that I was back in the room waiting for him to wake up, so I bolted up in bed and called for him. In a flash he was holding my hand, "Rupert, are you alright?" I asked.

"Yes darling I am fine; you just relax, you need it!" He stated calmly.

"I need re….what happened?" I whispered.

"Darling…..I'm sorry to tell you this, apparently you were pregnant; but, unfortunately, you had a miscarriage." He told me with a very sad expression on his face.

"I….I….miscar….I miscar...Oh God! Rupert, I'm so sorry!" I cried heavily.

"Shh darling, don't apologize it is not your fault; it just wasn't meant to be!" He comforted me with tears streaming down his own face too. He was strong, though, and pulled it together and was there with me and for me while I cried and cried.

I had been a little over 2 months pregnant, without even knowing, and the loss devastated me. Even though I had become pregnant before Rupert and I agreed to, it was a terrible feeling that I had lost it, and lost it without knowing it had been there. I blamed myself because I hadn't exactly been taking care of myself for the past three months - sleeping very little, working 14-18 hours a day, parties, balls, public events, representing my patronages; and, of course, Rupert and my two hour riding trip each Sunday probably had not helped one bit.

When I was finally allowed to go home from the hospital, we had to be secretly taken out the back door, because the entire hospital was full of reporters wanting to know more about how I felt, how Rupert felt, what happens next and so on and so on. I didn't want to face that and neither did Rupert. We just wanted to be the two of us, all alone, to heal ourselves and each other. So we snuck out the back door to a waiting car and were whisked away to the winter castle while a decoy couple was coming down the hall towards the reporter jungle. Fortunately, it all went smoothly.

We stayed at the winter castle - just the two of us and only four security guards. They never entered the castle; but stayed at the little cabin out front. It was exactly what we needed at that time; and it helped us to go on…and to keep going. We had been able to take care of ourselves without any interruption from the press or the Queen.

Our anniversary started off great; but was quickly ruined by the Queen. Rupert and I had planned on spending an entire day together, just him and I. Two hours after we woke up, however, we had people everywhere…all of them, it seems, with a purpose from the Queen's office.

We had awoken early; the minute I opened my eyes, Rupert was on top of me looking down at me, smiling, "Good morning, Mrs. Renaldi!" He said with a kiss.

"Good morning, Mr. Renaldi!" I answered back and responded to his kiss, laughing at his groaning.

"Don't call me that darling, it sounds like you are addressing my father; and I do hope that I'm the only one to get these good mornings from you."

I started laughing, but my laughter was muffled but Rupert's kisses. We ended up being very intimate for close to two hours…that was when the celebration ended. A knock on the door interrupted us.

"Five minutes and I'll be with you!" Rupert yelled towards the door, in a completely normal voice while he worked his manhood in and out.

"Rupert!" I scolded in a whisper, trying to keep my panting down.

"No one will see darling…..oh God…..and……and……..and………and I do think they…..uhm…..know that we are………….oh……..doing this from time to time!" He panted out.

I couldn't do anything but try to forget that someone was at the door as I surely didn't want this to stop. I liked this more than anything; and Rupert was so gentle that sometimes I felt like I was on a cloud, light as a feather and nothing could replace that feeling.

That feeling suddenly ended and was replaced by a feeling of being violated when the Queen suddenly entered. I screamed and Rupert quickly pulled the sheet up over us, yelling, "MOTHER GET OUT!"

"Oh Rupert, do relax dear. It is just that I hate waiting; and I know this can't take that long. I know that your father and I have never taken this long!" She said carelessly as she just stayed there and stared at us.

"I do not care. We do not care how long it took you to have sex! We would just like to be alone; so for one last time mother - get out!" He said calmly, but I knew he was agitated.

"Oh, don't mind me darling; but I do have about fifteen people waiting for you, so I suggest that you two finish up now." She stated again; seemingly oblivious to what she was witnessing.

This agitated Rupert further. My lids were closed to avoid eye contact with the Queen and so I just felt Rupert crawl of me and out from under the sheet. Those actions had me open my eyes; I couldn't believe that he would do that - but he did.

Completely naked, he started pushing her out of our bedroom. "My wife and I do not want any interruptions for the next hour at least!" He spoke loudly and clearly before he closed the door.

After closing the door, he turned around and looked at me. I couldn't help but to look at him, my gaze going from head to toe and back again causing me to blush, almost as much as I did when we were interrupted, if that was possible. I noticed that his desire hadn't died down; he was just smiling at me and walking towards me in what seemed like slow motion. The pace increased suddenly to fast forward and he was under the sheet with me again. Without wasting any more time, he lifted the sheet and slid under; the next second, I could fell him pressing and entering my slick entrance. Within moments, we were moaning and panting again.

We did surface a few times from our suite, occasionally bumping into some of the staff. I blushed right away; they all knew what had taken place, what we had been doing and what had been seen. Unfortunately, we didn't even have to leave our suite for me to be embarrassed. The Queen had arranged for people to come to us all day long, so the interruptions were frequent; however, we didn't get interrupted during such an intimate time again, not that day at least.

"This is not what I had pictured our first anniversary to be like!" Rupert said disappointed.

"What did you have in mind dear?" I asked while leaning into his side.

"Oh I had pictured us in bed all day doing nothing but making love, kissing, nuzzling and making more love - just you and I, naked all day, alone in bed!" He shared with a dreamy look in his eyes.

I just smiled, leaned into him further and tilted my head back so we could share a kiss. We decided that, overall, we had had a fantastic day despite everything.

About one month ago, it all went down hill again. We were aroused from sleep, early one morning, by the screams of the Queen. This was surprising as her suite is on a different floor than ours. We bolted out of bed and threw on our robes and ran out to the hall. Rupert stopped in front of one of the guards, "Do you have any idea what is going on?" He asked the poor guard loudly.

"Unfortunately not, your Highness. I am sorry that I can not be of assistance!" He apologized

"That is quite alright, sir. I will just go inquire of my mother myself!" Rupert said and patted the guard on the shoulder - a gesture the man seemed to be happy for having received.

Rupert turned around and grabbed my hand, dragging me down the hall at a pace that was hard to follow. We ran down the stairs and down the hall to reach the King and Queen's suite. Once inside, we found a very distressed Queen. She, along with the King's aides and some maids were running back and forth. Only a few seconds after we entered, the royal physician entered as well. This led to, the Queen breaking into tears, "Oh Rupert, your father is very ill!" She cried out taking his hand from mine.

"Mother what is wrong? What is happening?" He asked

"I think your father is having a heart attack! He complained about chest pains when he came up here after finishing his day in the office yesterday. He said that he felt a little nauseous and that he had had trouble with heartburn all day. But I just dismissed his complaining and told him to go to sleep!" She confessed, crying.

I was saddened that King Albert was sick; and I was amazed at the Queen showing real emotion. She wasn't being fake, the tears weren't for effect…no, they were real, from the bottom of her heart, or so I thought.

"Mother, everything will be alright. Father will be alright. I'm positive that the doctor has something to give him that will make him bounce right back!" Rupert tried to reassure his mother.

"Do you know what it is like lying in bed next to a man who is having a heart attack? I feel so filthy, and not even my rosewater can ease that feeling!" She stated and it shocked both Rupert and I.

"Mother, how can you say a thing like that?" Rupert asked in dismay

"Oh Rupert – don't be silly. It was not a pleasant feeling. What will our friends and the rest of our family say? No man will ever want to dance or even touch me again!" She muttered, almost as if she were in a state of shock.

"I cannot believe what I'm hearing - this is your husband! I would be devastated if anything like this happened to Rupert. I would not be thinking about if I would ever dance with someone again. No – wait, yes actually I would. I would be wondering if I would ever be in Rupert's arms again, dancing a slow waltz. Either way, I would be happy that I was with him. You must be the most selfish, egocentric woman in this world!" I said and stormed out the door.

"Silly girl, I cannot believe I chose her to be your wife!" She spat.

"Well mother, I must say that I do believe it is the only good choice you've ever made!" Rupert said and followed my lead.

He found me right outside the door with tears running down my cheeks, soundlessly sobbing; only the movement of my shoulders told him I was crying. I cried even harder as he wordlessly turned me into his embrace and just held me.

The King did bounce right back after a month of nothing but rest. Rupert had taken over completely; and from that month, it was clear to everybody that he was truly born to do this. He was instinctively a true ruler! I really enjoyed seeing him work, watching him perform in his element. Everything was done with perfection. What I enjoyed the most was how he always included me in almost everything. Of course, that was not something that pleased the Queen, who still hasn't forgiven me for telling her my opinion.

_Present day.._

Just as she hasn't forgiven me, or us, for now taking this vacation to relax after Rupert's hectic month; although I think if I had mentioned that our vacation could be responsible for those children coming soon, she would really have exploded and rushed us out the door.

I laughed to myself at the thought of knowing that the children will come when they come!

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**Thank you for reading this far yet again lol please leave a little comment, Thank you!!!**


	8. Happy Times

**A big thank you to my lovely reviewers aserene, Shakayla, CJmynixMG and Mrs. Della Mason for your wonderful reviews they are greatly appreciate. Once again a HUGE thank you to my lovely beta Shakayla, thank you so much for using your precious time on me!!! She is the reason this is readable!!! So when you read this next part remember to thank her for doing it.**

**Now yours truly will retire to my bed and let you read in peace and quiet.**

**Enjoy!!!**

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**Happy times...**

Finally things are going as they should. The education and caretaker system we developed is working perfectly. The King seems healthier than ever before and the Queen has been away for three months for what she referred to as convalescence. She claimed it was to cope with everything that happened. She just returned a few weeks ago. Everything else seems to be practically perfect in every way.

We have now been married for one year, eight months and thirteen days and we couldn't be happier. Everything has been absolutely fantastic, other than a few disagreements with the Queen. Our first disagreement with her was about five months ago. The Queen suddenly decided that we should no longer stay in the suite we had lived in since our wedding. So, while we were out riding, she had a large portion of contents of our suite moved to another one. While this, in and of itself was an imposition, she also didn't find it necessary to tell us even though she had the opportunity later in the day during afternoon tea.

During tea, she mostly spoke with Rupert about what his father was planning to propose to parliament sometime during the following week. She asked him to lend support to his Father's proposal – an argument ensued. Rupert's main point was that he didn't want to publicly support the proposal as he didn't agree with it. I didn't pay too much attention to their conversation as I had learned to focus on the gardens and the work being done in them by the horticulture people. The Queen had long since convinced me that she didn't have any interest in speaking with me in a social manner, so I passed my time admiring the beautiful grounds. I have come to love the palace gardens and I enjoy spending time in them, much to the apparent regret of Joseph and Jacob. My guess is that wearing black and standing quietly in the hot sun is part of why they don't find it as pleasant as I do. They are both great, though, as they say they don't mind. I think at times I catch a look in their eyes that says something different.

I did pay enough attention, however, to know that the Queen didn't even mention that nothing of ours would be in our "old" room. She didn't even find it necessary to mention when Rupert suggested that we run up to the room to change out of our riding gear into something more comfortable.

As we started up the stairs, we heard the Queen's voice behind us, "Stop that ridiculous hand holding; it's sickening. Rupert do not forget the meeting I have arranged for you tomorrow morning!" She admonished softly, but firmly.

"Mother, this is my wife and I love her dearly. I will hold her hand until SHE tells me not to!" He stated.

She huffed and turned around very offended, which only led to bigger smiles on both our faces. We continued on our way to our suite. Upon our arrival, the doormen opened the doors for us. The minute the doors closed, I was in Rupert's arms kissing him like there was no tomorrow. Because we were distracted, it wasn't until Rupert moved us to the bed that we noticed our suite didn't look familiar. Additionally, we heard a cough that made us break apart. A new maid that neither of us had ever seen before was standing there doing her best to avert her gaze away from our display of affection.

"I'm sorry, your highnesses; but I was told that I should strip the bed - the painters have orders to paint the room tonight." She said very politely.

"I beg your pardon…painters? What? Why if I may ask? Who ordered that?" Rupert asked her fast.

"The Queen, your highness; she asked us to move all your things another floor up." She curtsied while answering.

"Her Majesty! Hmm…Do you know why?" He questioned.

"Her Majesty said something about that since no heirs were on the way from your highnesses there was no need for you to stay in this suite that has a nursery connected." She answered softly.

"So she just moved us out?" He asked and the maid nodded.

She continued, "I don't wish to be rude; but would it be possible for you to continue in another room so I can finish up here. I fear I may receive a severe ear bashing from the Queen if I haven't finished in time." Her tone was pleading.

Rupert and I both nodded. We rose from our position on the bed and walked to our closet which we found completely empty. Our sitting room was completely different as well as the room that was to be the nursery. We had been using it for our paperwork, presents, or something that needed our attention. Everything had been moved.

This caused Rupert to grab the phone and call his mothers office, "I want our suite back as it was. You have no right to move us anywhere. Am I clear?" He yelled into the phone before he slammed it down, which made me jump slightly. I walked over to him and ran my hands over his shoulders and down his back then around his midsection so I could hug him from behind. I felt him relax and put his hands on mine squeezing them softly. I rested my head on his back after planting a kiss there, "Remember what you said to me, darling? A baby will make it all better; and that will be soon, at least I hope." I reassured him softly and felt him nod.

"I know Clarisse, I know; but she is really pushing me to my limits of control." He shared.

I nodded my understanding. The maid came into the sitting room and curtsied, "Your highnesses, do you want to have the cream or the lavender silk bedding on? The Queen wanted me to inquire. She has asked us to move it all back here." She asked, almost sighing in frustration.

"Lavender, thank you; I am sorry for your inconvenience over the Queen's ideas!" I apologized as I could feel that Rupert wasn't up to dealing with matters such as this right now. The maid nodded slightly and then left. We followed and were pleased to learn that we could get back in our suite in less than two hours.

The next time we clashed with the Queen occurred when she was about to leave for her convalescence. She decided and advised us four days before she left that we…meaning Rupert and I, should throw her a farewell ball. We quickly informed her that we didn't have the time for doing such things as we were in the middle of planning for a combined kindergarten and nursery.

She was not swayed, however, and determined that it was more important to have this ball; so she planned it herself. She planned every detail and advised us that we were to report to The Glass Ballroom at 7 p.m. sharp. She also instructed that I was to wear a light purple dress that would be in our room the day of the ball along with the flowers for Rupert's jacket. We were both in awe of her efficiency – it only took her five and a half hours to arrange a ball. Because it seemed to mean so much to her, even though we didn't have time for it, we attended the ball.

Despite all of her careful attention to detail, she failed to inform us that her arrangements included Rupert and me hosting this farewell ball for the Queen.

"Here you are, my dear. You just have time to read it!" She said as she handed Rupert a welcome speech.

"Mother, why have you arranged this? We told you we didn't have time for it; and, to be honest, we were planning on leaving early. Now we can't; we have to stay until the very last guest leaves!" He asked, annoyed.

"Oh dear, you can still leave early, just tell everyone to leave!" The Queen said while looking at her reflection in the nearby mirror.

"Mother, you know we can't do that!" I said, looking between Rupert and the King, who was just sitting in a chair waiting.

"Of course you can, you are still newlyweds, everyone will understand." She snared.

"What does that mean?" Rupert asked.

"As newlyweds and the heirs to the Genovian throne and, due to the fact that you have produced no additional heirs yet, the guests will understand that you've left to try!" She said sweetly.

"Mother! Do you really think that we will leave, allowing the people think that we left just to have sex!" Rupert loudly stated.

"I do not see anything wrong with that my dear. Your father and I did that in the beginning of our marriage! And Rupert, please do not use that word, it sounds so vulgar." She hissed.

"Sounds so vulgar? What do you call your suggestion that we give the impression that we can't control ourselves for even a few hours and must leave for our bedchambers to have relations? That mother - is vulgar! I will; no, we will do this one thing for you so we don't leave the impression that you are a woman who had to arrange a ball for herself. Once we do this for you, we do not want to hear anything further from you on any matter that we do not ask you about first!" Rupert hurled at her.

"Fine! Shall we?" She asked, looking at the King who simply nodded as he rose.

We stayed until the last guest left and then slowly made our way upstairs. I dismissed my maids and undressed myself, pulling on a nightgown. I honestly don't remember how I got to bed. I actually think that Rupert carried me from the bathroom; but I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. The next morning, our wake-up call came when the maids drew the curtains back. As we roused from sleep, one of the maids handed Rupert an envelope. He opened it and read the note inscribed on the small piece of paper, "_You have six months and then I will no longer keep quiet."_

Rupert crumpled the paper and threw it away, "She does not set the limit!" He muttered

"Sorry darling, I couldn't hear you." I softly asked.

"I just said that my mother will not set a time limit for when we are to have a child!" He said and gestured towards the piece of paper.

"Thank you my love!" I said and kissed him deeply.

He returned the kiss, pulling the sheet up over our heads. He let his hands run down my body, giving each and every place the right attention. When his hands went to pull my slip up, I was sold. We ended up not getting out of bed until an hour later.

During the Queen's absence, we had three very peaceful months. We settled into a normal routine while she was gone which continued up until the day before the Queen returned. Tension fell over the palace as everyone was walking on eggshells. The staff wanted everything to be perfect, spotless and completely to the Queen's satisfaction.

She had advised that she, personally, would be inspecting everyone and everything on her return, including Rupert and myself. It seemed so strange that I didn't believe Rupert when he first told me, "Darling are you ready for the inspection in two hours?" Rupert asked lightly when he poked his head in my office.

"Inspection? Who is going to inspect me?" I replied, winking at him.

"Oh darling, I'm sorry to disappoint you; but it is not me. Although I would love to; but my mother is retuning today. You didn't forget, did you?" He asked entering the office completely.

"Oh that is right. I have been wondering all morning what that red alarm note was in my calendar. So your mother returns today and she wants to inspect me?" I questioned.

"Yes; but not only you, everybody…well except my father. And, if she inspects him…I don't want to know about it," he joked. "Not to change the subject, but are you ready for my cousin's wedding?" He asked as he sat down in the large chair by the fireplace.

"I don't know. I'm not sure if I want to wear the light pink suit with the small hat or the crème coloured suit with the larger hat to church. But I do know that I want to wear the coral coloured dress that the dressmaker finished just this morning for the wedding party." I eagerly shared and sat down in front of him.

"This is so typical of you darling; and I love you for it! Just let me know what colour flower I should wear when you decide, ok?" He joked and leaned forward and pecked my cheek

"I will. Now go and get ready for your mother's inspection!" I said and pushed him out of my office, giving his buttock a light slap.

We presented ourselves for the inspection upon the Queen's return. It lasted all of five minutes; but she didn't say a thing. True to her word, she didn't ask anything either. Of course, she had promised to not say anything for the next six months and only three had gone by. The only thing she said was 'yes, thank you' when Rupert said that she looked good and well rested. She then retired to her and the King's suite and we didn't see her again that day.

We attended the wedding of Rupert's cousin two weeks after the Queen returned. I couldn't remember him from my own wedding; but Rupert confirmed that he had been there. I decided on my crème coloured suit and the large hat. Right before we left for the ceremony, Rupert shared that he was very happy with my choice of attire. Apparently that colour reminds him of me on our wedding day.

As we were seated in the church waiting for the wedding to begin, I passed the time looking around in the church and noticed an older man at the altar. I elbowed Rupert slightly, "Rupert, who is that up at the altar?" I asked.

"That is my cousin." He laughed quietly.

"But he looks so…much older than I expected!" I said, trying to be diplomatic.

"He is darling; he is fifty four. Believe it or not, this is his first wedding." He told me in a whisper.

Suddenly the wedding march started and everyone rose to their feet. I got up too fast and felt very dizzy. Rupert steadied me and held my arm. As the door opened, a young woman…not much older than me…made her way up the aisle. To say that I was shocked would be an understatement. To think that someone my age would even think about marrying someone that much older…but, as they say, love is blind.

The ceremony was fairly uneventful and was moving along slowly. Because it was taking so long for everything to get started, Rupert and I passed the time quietly discussing the decorations inside the church and he told me a little bit about the people around us. A quick look to either side told us that we weren't the only ones that were trying to pass the time with talking. Then as on cue, we all fell silent when the priest finally took the pulpit to begin the wedding ceremony. I tried to remain quiet; but I had something on my mind that I had wanted to share for a little while. In retrospect, I guess I said it at the wrong, yet right time, "I'm pregnant!" I leaned in and whispered to Rupert.

"What?" Rupert responded loudly.

Unfortunately, his 'what' came right after the bride had said 'I do'. Everybody turned to look at us. I hid behind my large hat and Rupert tried discretely to divert the attention and apologized to the bridal couple. And, of course, the Queen was LESS than pleased. After a few tense moments, however, the wedding continued where we had interrupted it.

Rupert turned back to look at me, "Are you really pregnant, darling?" He whispered. I simply nodded and smiled at him.

He took my hand and brought it to his lips. He continued to hold my hand even after it separated from his lips. Our joined hands rested on his thigh until the ceremony ended. After the newlyweds left the church for their carriage ride around town, the guests were allowed to leave the church. As soon as we got up and started walking, Rupert put his arm around my back with his hand resting on the top of my hip. We nodded politely at the people we knew and also many that we didn't know.

When we got to our car, Joseph was standing at the door ready to open it. Rupert hesitated, though, and turned around so he was in front of me. He ran his hands down my arms and looked me straight in the eye, "Clarisse, do you know how much I love you at this moment?" Rupert asked.

"Hopefully as much as I love you; but please feel free to share as I would love to hear how much!" I vainly said and received a good laugh from Rupert.

"Well, I love you more today than I did yesterday; but I will love you even more tomorrow!" he said and kissed me fully on the lips. When we finally parted, he looked at me and tilted his head.

"What Rupert?" I asked.

"You know, I believe that you are somewhat glowing!" He said

"Thank you, I think!" I shyly said.

"Joseph, my wife is expecting so let us get her to the hotel so she can have a little rest before the rest of the wedding." Rupert said to Joseph while looking at me and running the backside of his hand softly down my cheek.

Once we were seated in the car, Joseph turned around and offered sincerely, "Congratulations, your highnesses!"

"Thank you, Joseph!" I replied.

"Thank you, Joseph; but do know, you're sworn to secrecy…so not a word!" Rupert reminded.

"Of course, your Highness!" Joseph said and turned back around looking for a sign that we could leave. Rupert and I talked in hushed tones as he touched my lower stomach lightly. We both smiled at the shared thought we just had.

"Your highness? I have to inquire, just as an aside… When this news is made official, I will not only be protecting the Crown Princess; but also the future heir to the Genovian throne, correct?" Joseph paused.

"You will be protecting my wife and my child even before the news is shared; I hope you understand that from now on that I will need you to take even better care, if possible, of her!" Rupert said and looked lovingly at me.

"I do understand and certainly will do that, your Highness. My question is, though, will I get paid double for guarding twice as many people?" Joseph joked.

Both Rupert and I broke out in a hearty laughter along with Joseph. Soon after, we left for the hotel. Once in our room, however, we never had a minute of peace and quite to enjoy. And even though we couldn't talk about my pregnancy out loud just yet, I could see on Rupert's face that he was happier than ever before.

We had just changed to our formal attire when the door burst open and in strode the Queen, "What on earth did you two have to discuss during that ceremony that was so important that an outburst like that was necessary?" She yelled.

"Nothing, Mother." Rupert answered her calmly.

"Nothing! Nothing…so you tell me that you two interrupted and embarrassed the entire family for nothing. I saw the two of you chat during the ceremony; I saw you kissing as though you were in private right outside the church…what exactly do you think you are doing!" She asked coldly.

"We were simply discussing the fact that James is considerably older than the young woman he married. Everyone thinks it's crazy; but no one would dare say such a thing. I'm afraid our discussion of that fact got a little out of hand. Happy?" He replied just as cold.

The Queen turned on her heels and left in a hurry; we were finally alone for the first time since arriving back at our hotel suite. Rupert used the time efficiently. He threw his arms around me and kissed me deeply, letting his hands roam all over my body, carefully…as to not ruin my dress.

"Clarisse, I'm so honoured and extremely happy that we are having a child!" He said.

"I'm sorry I sprang it on you at such an inopportune time and place. I had actually planed to tell you later; but the wedding was so boring, I couldn't wait one more days!" I admitted.

"Don't be sorry darling it was the perfect time! I will always remember how, when and where you told me." He kissed me on the lips once again softly.

We enjoyed ourselves immensely at the wedding party; we talked and danced and had a great dinner. We didn't leave until three in the morning. When we finally got back to our hotel we were so tired that everything was just thrown on the floor. We retired to the bed and got into our spooning position with Rupert putting a protective hand over my lover abdomen. I placed my small hand on top of his and we both fell asleep.

We have now been trying to find the perfect time to send out a press release with the news of the pregnancy; but it will have to wait a little while as we still have to tell the family yet. Most importantly, we haven't informed the Queen yet. We hope that once she learns of the news, she then finally will be happy.

To be continued...

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**Thank you for reading this far, please take those two minutes it takes to leave a little word...**


	9. Leave me alone

**A great big thank you to ****Mrs. Della Mason, CJmynixMG, Shakayla and Clarisse Renaldi for your wonderful reviews. I loooooove them, keep them coming!!! LOL Once again a great big, huge, enormous, gigantic thanks to Diana for being my lovely, hardworking, fantastic beta – remember her when you read this, she has worked her magic once again!!!! **

**Well on to the story…..**

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**Leave me alone….**

I'm now six months pregnant and I have been watched like a bird in a cage since the official announcement. Everyone is so scared that something will either go wrong or I will take on too much work. As a result, every two hours I'm "forced" to take a break which includes either a nap or a walk in the palace garden. Of course, the press is hanging on the fence all day long or trying to hide in the weirdest places to get a picture of my pregnant form.

The press release was sent out at the beginning of my third month. We waited until then as we were told that was the first somewhat safe date. Rupert and I agreed on the fact that I will give birth at Genovia Memorial Hospital, so we faked the expected birth month in the release:

_Their Royal Highnesses The Crown Prince and The Crown Princess are happy to announce that The Crown Princess is expecting to give birth to a child by the end of August this year. _

_The childbirth is expected to take place at Genovia Memorial Hospital._

_Charles Beaufrere_

_Chief of the Court of_

Actually the baby is due in July; we learned this "faking" from Rupert's oldest sister who had announced the birth of her first child at the right month and had the unpleasant experience of having reporters everywhere. There were so many, in fact, that she had trouble getting to the hospital to deliver. Our situation is even more problematic as she didn't have the title that Rupert has, so we can only imagine what will happen when I go into labour. That is why we decided to do it like this. Since this will be the first Renaldi heir born in a hospital, we want it to run as smoothly as possible.

We told their Majesties along with my parents the happy news two days before sending out the press release; it brought immense joy from both sides. My parents because of the announcement of the newest grandchild on the way and the King and Queen, of course, were very happy about securing of the Renaldi heir line. They, too, were excited about a new grandchild being on the way. I swear that I could feel the ice melt a bit from around the Queen; she actually hugged me; and, of course, the affectionate kisses on cheeks. I must admit that the hug caught Rupert and I by surprise. I will always remember her hug…it was warm and heartfelt.

Rupert is even more ecstatic now than he was when I first told him about the pregnancy. Every chance he gets, he takes a picture and keeps telling me about all the stories and things that he is going to share with this child – he is certain it is a boy. He has informed that he has a backup plan…just in case it's a girl. He has been struggling, however, with all of my mood swings; he says it was worse, though, during my seven dreadful weeks of spilling the entire contents of my stomach every time I ate. He has been following my pregnancy very closely; reading books and joining me each time the doctor has been here – we do not dare to go to the doctor's office…there's a good chance that the press would never lets us get away from there.

Each evening, after my pregnancy became evident, he has said goodnight first to the belly and then to me. He also likes to keep his hands on my growing stomach when we are standing next to each other. He does this even if we are talking with members of Parliament. Sometimes I even have to remove his hand when I am leaving. About a month and a half ago, he felt the baby move for the first time…I could not pry him away from for the remainder of the day.

"Rupert I need to leave you for a minute!" I made an effort to get up from the chair.

"Why? Where are you going? Oh that doesn't matter I'll just go with you!" He rambled while his hands were moving slowly around the small bulge.

"No, Rupert, you will not!" I stated it in a manner that made it seem like it was a law I proclaimed.

"But I want to feel him again!" He pleaded.

"I know darling; but I will prefer to go alone!" I tried again.

"But why? Where are you going that I can't come?" He whimpered.

I bent down and whispered in his ear, "I'm going to the bathroom." I smiled and stood up.

"Oh, well ok I will let you go there alone; but do hurry back…I don't want to miss it if he moves… I want to feel him again!" He pleaded.

"Yes. Yes I will, your highness…and, it is a girl!" I smiled and left, but he continued his '_it's a boy' _so I just humoured him by letting him think that he was right.

There are times, though, when all of this gets to be a little too much for me. I think, though, that he does this to let me know that he will always be here for me. A few weeks after the official announcement of the pregnancy, I needed to see Rupert for his opinion on a political matter that had come across my desk. I went to his office and since I knew that he would only be signing papers and reading proposals from Parliament, I went right in. Surprisingly, I had found an empty office. Certain that he would return shortly, I sat down and started reading the papers I had brought with me. Suddenly, I heard a woman scream. It was not a loud one; but a scream that sounded like a quick outburst. It was followed with laughing and giggling.

"Rupert, are you in here?" I asked, a little curious.

Then as quick as lightning, Rupert came storming out from the small room adjoining his office, looking all flustered and messy. "Clarisse, darling, what are you doing here now? I thought you had a lot of work to do including all of those thank you cards to sign!" He asked, while fixing his hair and tugging his shirt back in his pants.

At the same time both his secretary and his aide came out of the room he had just emerged from; their appearance was just a messy as he was, "Rupert, what is going on?" I asked.

"What's going on? What do you mean, darling?" He nervously asked.

I gestured towards the two ladies a few years older than myself who where fixing their clothes and hair. "Oh, that! Darling, that is nothing, nothing to worry about! They where……uhm….. just helping me out!" He answered quickly.

"No…Rupert; no you can't do this to me…not now. I'm pregnant with your child, for heavens sake." I softly cried.

"No! No! No! Clarisse it's not what you think!" He grabbed my arms and looked franticly in my eyes.

"Let me go! Don't touch me!" I cried harder and ran out of the office to the garden.

I could feel someone following me as I ran. I didn't even have to turn around. Somehow I knew it was Joseph. He always seems to be around whenever I need help or a shoulder to cry on. I kept running because I wanted to go to the closed part of the garden; the outskirts of the grounds, where no photographer could be, ergo, preventing anyone from getting a picture of me.

When I reached the bench, I sat down and cried my eyes dry. After a few minutes, I could feel a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Leave me alone, please…" I cried.

I could feel the owner of that hand sit down besides me. I immediately turned around and cried some more in his arms. The feel of his body, the smell of his cologne, and the soft caress of his hands left me with no doubt that it was him.

"I don't know what to do Joseph." I cried out loudly.

"What do you mean Princess?" He asked, while stroking my back.

"My husband is cheating on me…with his secretary _and _aide at the same time!" I stammered.

"I don't think the Crown Prince would do such a thing to you…especially not now!" He offered.

"Oh no…well I saw him come out of a room, followed closely by them; all three of them were dishevelled and looking guilty and….and…!"

"And what Princess; what did you see?" He asked.

"I don't really know; but I do know he is hiding something. Coming out of the room like that, looking like he did…that makes me think I'm positive." I tried again.

"You are positive that the man you married about two years ago is cheating on you; but, you don't have any proof of that…other than you saw him come out of the same room as two assistants." Joseph explained as I nodded at everything he was saying.

I could see that Joseph was concentrating on what was being said to him in his earpiece. He then turned to look at me again, "Come Princess, someone awaits you at the garden doors." He said as he stood and offered his hand to help me up.

"No Joseph, I do not wish to speak with him right now – I'm hurt that he would do such a thing to me." I sternly said.

"Princess, it has already been two hours since you ran to the garden…perhaps enough time has passed?"

I looked at him disbelieving; but he confirmed it with a nod. I took his hand and we linked arms making our way back to the palace. No more words were said; but a lengthy conversation took place through our bodies. He silently asked me to listen to Rupert; and I kept telling him I already knew everything. I was not interested in talking or listening to him. His movements said I should quit being stubborn and listen. Finally, I capitulated and said I would listen; but he should not expect me to talk to Rupert. He simply smiled as though to indicate… 'we'll see about that!'

At the top of the stairs, I could see Rupert pacing back and forth; Walter was standing behind him and noticed that we were on our way and advised Rupert. Hearing the news, Rupert started descending the stairs and walking quickly towards us.

Once he was only a few feet away from us, "Joseph, please leave us alone for a few minutes? Thank you." He softly requested. He then took my hand as Joseph moved away. "Clarisse, darling, you didn't let me explain." He stated.

"No need for an explanation. I'm finally pregnant, so now you don't have to think about me anymore; you can go back to the fun and virile life of Crown Prince Rupert. I'm just here to bear your children anyway…that is my duty." I said.

"Damn it, Clarisse – I love you. I love you more than life itself. I can't stop thinking about you. Do you have any idea how difficult it is for me to be apart from you for even one minute? I love that you are pregnant; I want it more than anything. I cannot wait to hold OUR child in my arms. Why didn't you just stop and let me tell you what I had been doing in that room with my secretary and my aide?" He almost cried.

"Oh I know what you have been doing!" I barely whispered through tears.

"No Clarisse…no, you don't. If you knew, you would not be running!" He sternly said and started pulling me with him as he walked…my feet reluctantly followed.

"I do not..." I didn't get any further before Rupert interrupted me.

"Clarisse just come and see ok? Don't say a word; don't cry anymore… just come and take a look. Once you see, you can then say whatever you want to say!" He kept walking while he was talking. Soon we were in his office standing in front of the door to the smaller room. Rupert pulled me to him and opened the door. I stepped inside and could only stare at what I saw. The entire room was filled from floor to ceiling with toys, dolls, and teddy bears…everything a child could wish for was in there. I could hardly speak.

"Rupert what….what is this? I said and instinctively put a hand over my abdomen.

"This is what I was doing in here…we were finishing it as you came in here. Anne fell down from that ladder and I and Katerina caught her. Putting all these toys up here took a lot of work; but I wanted to finish before lunch, so I could give it to you then. But you came early and that's why we all acted the way we did!" Rupert explained.

"Oh Rupert – this is wonderful; but this child will not be able to use all of these toys!" I said, pulling his hand down with mine to rest over our unborn child.

"I know Clarisse and it is not for our child – this is for all the children we are going to visit. You expressed your desire to give the unfortunate children some sort of gift to show them that each of them is something special. You mentioned that to me on the ride home a few months ago…this is simply the results!" He proudly said.

I was completely speechless; I couldn't even move my lips. So I decided that there was only one thing to do…I just turned around, smiled, and kissed my husband! Apparently we were quite engrossed in our kissing as, when we finally broke apart, the door was closed and we were alone.

I had, however, found my voice again, "Oh Rupert, I can't believe you did this." I was stunned.

"Anything for you my love!" he answered and kissed my hand.

"I'm in complete awe, Rupert. It is wonderful, but how? How did you do this?" I asked.

"It was all sponsored from many different vendors. Because, we are not allowed by law to increase one stores profit, we asked them all to contribute to the cause. So now you can come in here every time we have a visit to make and pick out the toy for that child!" He said and hugged me.

I spent the rest of the day reviewing all of the toys…marvelling at the generosity of so many companies. I couldn't wait for the date of our first visit so I could choose a toy for that one special child.

When I reached five months, I was rushed to the hospital because I started feeling dizzy and couldn't stabilize myself enough to gain control. Of course, the photographers peeled themselves off of the fences and rushed after the ambulance that was taking me to the hospital.

Rupert was right beside me the entire way there, "I told you to take breaks…those functions can run without you, darling!" He said concerned.

"Rupert nothing is wrong; I'm just feeling a little dizzy." I tried.

"Nothing? Nothing, Clarisse? You almost fell down the stairs today. If it hadn't been for Joseph, you and this child would have taken the one-step staircase! Just promise me that you will take it easy and not overwork like you have been doing while you're supposed to be resting." He sternly said while stroking my hand.

"I promise Rupert; I will take it easy from now on. Although I love to keep Joseph on his toes, this is not the way I want to do it!" He leaned over and kissed me softly.

I had rushed to get ready for a visit with a very sick, little girl. I had been running around trying to get ready…when it came to my attention that Rupert was already waiting. I closed my jacket over my growing belly and rushed out the suite, followed by Joseph instantly. We were either walking very fast or running, I do not remember; when we reached the stairs, I started going down them when I got dizzy. The next thing I remembered was Joseph holding onto me, quite inappropriately…but he caught me and my unborn child before we tumbled down the stairs.

I have never seen people move that fast…Rupert was faster than lightning; one moment I could see the fear written all over his face…the next he was with me and Joseph at the top of the stairs, concern covering his features. Joseph continued to apologize repeatedly for his hand grazing my breast when he caught me; I kept telling him that there was no need to apologize, especially since he had just saved my child.

I was admitted to the hospital for three full days until I was allowed to go back home. It seems odd to call the Palace home; but nonetheless, I went home. They determined that an inner ear infection caused my balance to be off which lead to my dizziness.

So now I am sitting in the garden resting; Joseph is standing behind me and has just informed me that Rupert will be joining me soon. I look forward to the birth now – I don't like being pregnant any longer. Everything is difficult…I have to think twice before getting up and I hate the way I have to be shielded. The royal guards are doing what they can to not let the photographers get too close…but they can't make them leave their posts. Secretly, though, I have wished that at least one of them would get at least one good picture…just one picture showing my pregnant form…to show the beautiful people of Genovia the evidence that a baby…their future Queen or King…was on its way…showing them the love Rupert and I share, for each other, for them and for Genovia.

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**Thank you for reading to the end of this part….. woohoo please take the two minutes it takes and leave a little something for me!!!!**


	10. Birth and Baby

**A huge thank you to : ****SmartiesaremyAntiDrugs, Mrs. Della Mason and CJMynixMG for all your wonderful reviews. Just to clarify Rupert is speaking the truth about what happened, and he didn't go after her right away because I had to give Clarisse and Joseph a little time together. And of course Joseph is always there to catch Clarisse!!! And everybody that has been or is pregnant know that feeling at some point about really not wanna be pregnant any longer. And of course again a huge thank you to Shakayla for being my fantastic and amazing beta!!!! But no more talking – I'm guessing you are here to read more of this, so...**

**Enjoy...**

**Birth and baby**

We have now been parents to a beautiful baby boy for twenty days. If it weren't for all of the rituals and required appearances that followed the birth of a future heir to the throne, I would just sit and watch him all day long. Looking at his tiny hands and feet, admiring how he looks so at peace when sleeping; his little lips slightly parted and his tongue sticking out…he is just beautiful. Much to Rupert's regret, though, no one can really see any of Rupert's features in him. He resembles me completely; he has my blonde hair, my nose, and my features overall.

Rupert likes to joke a little about it, "If this had been a girl, it would have been the prettiest little girl anyone could wish for!" He said when baby was a few days old.

"So you don't like your son's appearance?" I asked, offended.

"Oh I love it very much; anything that looks like you is a joy!" He said, admiring the little bundle in his arms.

"But…?" I questioned.

"But I would have liked it if he could have looked just a little like me!" He shared.

"He will, Rupert, just wait; he will hopefully have your eyes, mind and physique!" I smiled and tilted me head.

"But he already has your eyes - blue as sapphires!" He whimpered.

"Darling, most babies are born with blue eyes!" I informed him. He handed me our little boy with a huge smile on his face and I knew that he was thinking about this possibility of our son looking a little like him.

I thought back to what those last few weeks were like…

Rupert was a great support throughout the entire pregnancy; he was with me through everything...even taking over when I couldn't handle things anymore. When I reached my eighth month, I was put on bed rest because I had already dilated some and had been having small contractions that wasn't strong enough to deliver from but still strong enough to do some damage. After about a week of working from my bed; I was about to go insane.

I also had to deal with the fact that the King had arranged, without Rupert's or my knowledge, a nanny. One morning my maid knocked on the bedroom door and then informed me about these nannies waiting outside our suite ready to begin work. I didn't realize it was the King who had arranged it, so I called Rupert and told him that he had no right to do this…I didn't want a nanny for our son. Rupert simply replied, "Darling, I'll be with you in a minute" before he hung up. That angered me even further; so by the time he arrived, I was boiling. He appeased me by immediately called his mother and asked her to come.

"You called me darling, what can I do for you?" She said when she entered the suite.

"Why did you arrange for a nanny?" Rupert simply asked.

"A nanny? I didn't arrange that, but what a good idea!" she smiled.

"If you didn't, then who did?" Rupert questioned.

"Try asking your father. He always has so many great ideas! If there's nothing else, I will go; it seems like I'm not needed at this time." She said and glided out of our suite.

"Your father? Why would he do this? It seems like something your mother would do…but certainly not your father…especially when he already knows that we want to do this ourselves." I said in disbelief.

"I will go and talk with him after Parliament!" Rupert said and bent down and gave me a kiss and then down to my belly and caressed it gently.

The King had not only arranged for one nanny, no he had arranged for two nannies; he had also arranged for a wet nurse…and THAT had me boiling. I didn't want another woman nursing my child…I would do that myself. I also didn't need someone to take over every single time; I was certainly capable of doing it all by myself, accompanied by Rupert and no one else.

Rupert had luckily been in the room when I was told what had been arranged, "Darling, calm down please?" He begged.

"I will not; and, I repeat, will not have anyone taking over my motherly responsibility. This child is ours and we will care for it. Can you just let me have it my way just this once?" I asked, agitated.

"Clarisse, darling, it will be as you ask. I promise you! You have to promise me, though, that you will remember you are not just giving birth to _our_ child, a new member to _our_ family; you are also giving birth to a royal heir. One that may even be King someday and it is, most certainly, a new and very special member to this country. Once this baby is born, it will not only be _ours_; it will belong to an entire country who will like to think of the child as _theirs_ as well." he said.

"Oh God, Rupert, I hadn't thought of that!" I said, shocked.

"Don't worry, we will try and be a normal family as much as possible!" He smiled and kissed me warmly and passionately.

"Thank you, Rupert. I love you!" I softly said and kissed him again.

"Is there anything I can do for my lovely and very pregnant wife?" He asked when we broke apart.

"I would love something cold to drink, darling!" I sighed.

"I will have it brought to you right away!" he said and walked over to the door and talked with the maid to share my request. On his way back, he could see that I was struggling to rearrange the pillows and he hurried over to help me.

"Thank you." I said tiredly.

"You are welcome, my love. Do you need anything else?" He asked, tilting his head and looking at me with a huge smile.

"I could use another pillow…" I shyly said.

"I will get Madame another pillow then!" He bowed.

"Rupert it is not funny! It is not easy having to sit here and do nothing else; I miss being outside. My back is killing me and I feel as huge as a…..as a…..cow!" I stated pointing towards him.

"Hmm…..as huge as a cow. If you wish to discuss agriculture, Clarisse, I suggest that you stand before Parliament!" Rupert smirked.

I couldn't help but start to laugh…and feel a bit guilty for feeling sorry for myself. Rupert kissed my nose and went back to his office to try and finish his work.

On July the 17th I went to bed early. I had been sitting through a garden party talking with a lot of people who only wanted to know if I wasn't getting sick of having to wait another month until this baby came. I, of course, had to lie through my teeth and say 'yes it is terrible!' and other similar things. In reality I had only four days until my due date. However, I was tired of being pregnant, especially because I had been on bed rest for almost a month and it was a very warm July.

Rupert went to bed a few hours after me and had fallen fast asleep. Right before midnight, I was brought out of my sleep by a sharp, but still bearable, pain. I decided, though, I was concerned, to wake up Rupert. "Rupert wake up dear." I said as calmly as possible.

"Wha….what's wrong Clarisse?" He answered drowsily.

"I don't know…I just had a weird pain." I said

"OH MY GOD you must be in labour! We have to get going!" Rupert jumped out of bed and started looking around frantically for his clothes.

I couldn't help it…I couldn't stop laughing. "Rupert, relax; I just wanted to tell you…I'm not about to give birth right now. Now come back to bed." I said in an effort to calm both of us down.

"You scared me Clarisse. Are you in much pain?" He asked rubbing his hand back and forth softly over my swollen belly.

"No, not now; I just got a little scared when the pain woke me up. Let's try and go back to sleep… nothing may even happen tonight…I still have four days. Goodnight darling." I said and kissed him.

"Goodnight Clarisse; try and sleep well!" He yawned.

About three hours later, I woke up Rupert with a scream from the pain. I was clutching my round abdomen while trying not to cry and show how scared I really was. Fortunately, this time Rupert provided perfect support…he knew exactly what the right thing to do at just the right time.

"Just stay here darling; I'll get people up and moving." He calmly said, stroking my back before getting up from the bed.

"Do you really think I'm going anywhere?" I spat at him in my wave of pain.

He chuckled quietly at my response. "I'll be right back!"

He went out of the bedroom and spoke to the guards in front of our suite. I heard him ask them to get people up and moving because the Crown Princess had gone into labour. He returned quickly, got himself dressed, and then walked into my closet to get the clothes that I had selected.

"Clarisse, can you stand?" Rupert softly asked me.

I was lying on the bed with my eyes closed trying to relax as much as possible. "Yes, Rupert I am fine…as long as it is between contractions!" I smiled at him.

"Oh you are brave, my love." He kissed me on my forehead and helped me up to a sitting position. He helped me a little as I tried to get dressed. We were almost finished when there was a knock on the door.

Rupert looked at me for the indication it was okay. When the second knock came, I nodded and he answered, "Come!"

"Your Highnesses!" Joseph said and bowed slightly.

"Oh Joseph, is everything ready?" Rupert asked him and Joseph nodded.

"I'm sorry to wake you, Joseph; but I didn't think we should wait any longer before leaving!" I said, panting a little since I could feel a new contraction building. I looked at Rupert with a hint of panic in my eyes and he immediately was by my side holding my hand. I tried to focus on the feel of his hand in mine and only whimpered slightly through the contraction.

"From the sound of it, I think that is a wise choice, your Highness. Will you need any help?" Joseph asked.

"No; but will you please take that suitcase down to the car? We will follow shortly after." Rupert said very quietly.

Joseph left and we started walking towards the car. Right before we reached the stairs, another contraction hit. I curled into a ball, trying without success to not cry out. Rupert held me tightly, talking me through the pain. When I was ready to walk again, we hurried down the stairs. We were met by the King and Queen's aides. They didn't have to ask to know what was going on; they hurried to the King and Queen's suite to give them the news. We continued to the car and were seated and had been driving for a few short minutes, when a new contraction rippled through my body. Unfortunately for Rupert, I was holding onto his thigh when it hit…I think I actually pierced his skin with my nails.

We entered through a hidden backdoor unnoticed by the few reporters that had moved into the hospital parking lot. I was whisked into the royal hospital room, which of course was now transformed into a delivery room. Rupert was told to stay outside…as it wasn't appropriate for the husband to be in the room. So Rupert along with Walter, Joseph, and two other guards remained in the waiting room. Joseph has since told me that Rupert was a complete wreck and that each scream from me had made him worse. I felt bad for Rupert…but this was hard on me too! I felt so alone in that room, knowing my husband was right outside but not allowed to be with me.

"Your Highness you need to try and relax between your contractions; you are not yet ready to deliver." The nurse said.

"Please do call me by my name." I breathed.

"Ok Clarisse, I will do my best to remember; but I must say it does not feel appropriate." She commented.

"I do not care; I just don't want to hear anything like that today!" I spat as another contraction hit and I started screaming.

"Breathe Clarisse, breathe in deep." The nurse instructed.

"I don't want to do this anymore; I want Rupert in here!" I cried.

"That will not happen. You will do this and it will be without his Highness!" The midwife snapped as she entered.

"But I just want him in here, please?" this time I begged.

"You are a strong woman; you've been at this for nine hours already. You can do this yourself!" She spoke quickly and sternly.

"But it hurts too much!" I cried

"Women do this every day, Your Highness. Why the Queen herself has survived it four times." The midwife stated as she wrote something down.

"I do not care about that; just get Rupert in here. He was part of making this child; he should be here now too!" I screamed as yet another contraction hit and grabbed the nurse's hand.

"He will not come in here until this child is born…so stop asking!" The midwife snapped.

"You will have to make do with me!" A voice said from the door. When I finally could raise my head I saw, to my surprise, the Queen.

She came over and took my hand. She held it firmly and didn't let go at anytime during the birth, even though I think I hurt her. She was there with me through it all; she was the one who pulled me up and gave me new energy to get this child into the world. She was also the first one to hold her grandson when he finally arrived. I was amazed to see her show, for possibly the first time since I've known her, really happy emotions. Her face lit up when she was handed my little boy and she shed happy tears as I've never seen her do before.

After a moment, she handed me the precious bundle, "Thank you, Clarisse; you've done your duty to your country, perhaps even better than I did…I am very proud of you!" She said and kissed my cheek.

"You did it better than anyone, Mother. If you had not, I wouldn't have Rupert and this little one!" I smiled at her.

"Thank you again, my dear. Now I will go and get Rupert for you!" She said and left me alone with my newly born son.

A few minutes later the door opened slowly and in walked Rupert. He was smiling softly and a little nervous. I had been screaming so loud that apparently I was heard throughout the halls of the hospital. It made Rupert very nervous and cautious about entering my room. After seventeen hours of hard labour, Rupert didn't know how I would be feeling or acting. Very wisely, he decided to take it slow. "Oh my darling, Clarisse." He said as he walked towards me with a huge smile.

"Rupert!" I responded sporting an equally huge smile. "May I present to you, your son!" I tiredly said with my hand on the crib beside my bed.

"A son! Oh my….oh my……thank you, Clarisse! What else can I say? You are amazing; I was so scared for you…just ask Joseph or anyone who was sitting out there with me!" He exclaimed as he gazed proudly at our son.

"Thank you darling; but no need to worry, everything is alright now. We have a beautiful baby boy!" I said.

A few moments later, a herd of nurses, midwives, and doctors came into the room. Two of the nurses, I believe, were present throughout the birth and two or three of the midwives as well. There were, however, no doctors present, as I recall. They were here now, though, to check up on me and the little prince and to receive an update from the nurses on how everything progressed.

The Chief of the Court was also present to discuss the press release. He informed us that he had personally been at the hospital lobby this morning while I was in labour and had taken the liberty of informing the press that I was about to give birth. He asked Rupert if he wanted to tell the press about the birth or if he should just send out the release. "Oh just send out the release. I have finally been allowed to be with my wife – and son and I have no intention of leaving them right now!" Rupert said proudly.

"I will do that your Highness – and congratulations!" The Chief of Court, Charles Beaufrere offered.

"Thank you, Charles." I replied.

"Do you wish to read the release before I send it out?" Charles asked. I just nodded and reached out for it.

_On Saturday__, July 18 at 11.57 a.m. Her Royal Highness, Crown Princess Clarisse, gave birth to a healthy son at Genovia Memorial Hospital in Pyrus._

Weight: 3500 grs., length: 51 cm.

Mother and child are doing fine.

His Royal Highness, Crown Prince Rupert, was present at the hospital as well.

Charles Beaufrere  
Chief of the Court of  
TRH The Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Genovia 

"Charles, how did you know it was a boy?" I asked, very surprised.

"From the Queen, your Highness. She waited until the Crown Prince had entered. She thought you should be the one to tell him; but I had to make this before someone else told the press!" Charles explained.

At that moment, the Queen entered the room again and smiled at me. The peace and quiet of the room was disturbed by our son's scream. At his cry, one of the nurses hurried over to the crib and was about to pick him up. "No wait, let me do it. He is my son and I am the one who is going to provide for him from now on!" Rupert said and carefully lifted our son and handed him to me.

The room was cleared except for Rupert. He stayed behind, even though the harsh midwife said that it wasn't appropriate for the husband to be in the room while I was breastfeeding. Rupert let her know that he didn't give a damn and I was glad that he stayed.

"This is the most beautiful thing I have ever witnessed…a mother feeding her child." Rupert said in awe.

"You're sweet Rupert. Your son certainly has a huge appetite." I said as I watched him eat.

"Have you thought about a name, Clarisse?" Rupert asked me, completely absorbed by our son.

"Well you mentioned Pierre the other day and I really like that name. I thought about how your family has always held the tradition of using names from previous rulers, but I thought it would be nice to honour our fathers." I said as I looked up at Rupert.

"That is just perfect darling. What will his name be then?" Rupert asked.

"Albert Christiano Pierre Gerard Renaldi!" I said satisfied. And so became the name of our son…Rupert loves it which makes me happy and I know our fathers will be proud as well at his christening. They will not know his full name until that time.

My baby boy is now sleeping peacefully in my arms. I can't even imagine how much our lives will change from this moment on.

**Thank you so much for reading until the last word of this part as all the others – please take the tiny little minute to post a "Good" or "I hate it" I would appreciate it – Thank you!!!**


	11. Busy busy busy

**Thank you so much for your review; Shakayla, CJmynixMG and Clarisse Renaldi****. And again thank you SO MUCH to Diana for being my ever lovely and patient beta, again it is thanks to her that this is readable, and it is also thanks to her that this chapter ends in such a lovely way, so remember to thank her.**

**And thank you to KathleenK for giving me the inspiration of what a name means.**

**This chapter contains some mature material so if you are under aged please turn around and don't go here lol otherwise I hope you will forgive me.**

**On with the story……**

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**Busy, busy, busy…**

Our lovely little boy is now seven months old. So many things have happened during those months: The christening; the return to "normal" life; learning to be a family; dealing with the rest of the family; and everything else that has come along the way. All of this has brought Rupert and I even closer together. He has even gotten up in the middle of the night and taken care of Pierre for me so I could be well rested for the day that followed. I've only attended a few official engagements during these past months. Both Rupert and I have tried to be as normal as possible; we've taken strolls around the park and have been doing almost everything ourselves. Of course, the nannies or security is constantly looking over our shoulders. I'm used to the security; but the nannies make me uneasy. I simply do not like having them around.

As part of Renaldi tradition, the children of the heir to the Genovian throne are to be christened at one month old. We, of course, followed that tradition. So on August the 18th Pierre was christened. I tried to eye my father all of the way through the ceremony. I was lucky enough to be able to see him when we got to the actual christening.

"What is the name of the child?" The bishop asked.

"Albert Christiano Pierre Gerard Renaldi." I answered with a smile. I could see my father glow and his chest swell with pride when the name Christiano was said. His name…his royal grandson would carry his name.

Pierre was great during the entire ceremony - not one cry or whimper, not even when the water was poured. The large crowd outside the church didn't affect him either. When we got back to the palace and the reception started, Pierre didn't want to play along any longer; he started screaming. So after greeting a number of people, I excused myself and Pierre and went to his nursery to feed him. Right after he finished; he fell asleep and a nanny took over watching him. I left with specific orders that she was to get me the second he woke up again.

I made my way back to reception. The minute I entered the Glass Ballroom, Rupert smiled at me and took my hand. "Is he sleeping?" Rupert asked

"Mmhhm… he has been holding out for almost two hours; and…he was hungry!" I shared.

"Oh…ok" Rupert said.

"Why do you sound so disappointed, darling?" I asked.

"It's just usually that I'm around and get to hold him after he is done eating." He said.

"Oh you are sweet Rupert; but you can't always count on being there when he finishes his meals!" I offered.

"I know…but I'm usually there!" He answered. I hugged his waist as he led me over to get something to eat.

"Rupert, I'm not really hungry." I said and started to turn away.

"Clarisse, you need to eat something…you skipped breakfast as well - you need to eat something. Otherwise you won't have anything for Pierre!" Rupert stated.

"How come you know so much about breastfeeding?" I asked curiously.

"Hmm…. because I'm a big admirer of both breasts and eating!" He whispered in my ear. I answered him by laughing heartedly and his laughter joined with mine. He handed me a plate and leaned in and gave me a short, but loving kiss.

About one month after Pierre's christening, he fell ill. I was up almost all night with my little boy who kept on crying no matter what I did or tried. He was running a fever so the doctor was called. He looked Pierre over and advised that he had caught the flu and we should have someone watching him every minute of the day. I, of course, insisted on that person being me. After two days, however, of getting absolutely no sleep…I couldn't take it any longer. Rupert had seen it long before I was willing to let go and arranged for a nanny to take over so I could get just a little sleep.

He came into the nursery with the nanny and carried me to our bed and laid me down. I protested a little, but not for long because I quickly fell asleep.

After a week, Pierre was bouncing back to his normal active baby mode. I recovered from my lack of sleep not long after…Rupert was a big help by taking a turn at watch. I still insisted on taking watch at least half of the time. One of the last days of Pierre's illness I found them in the chair in the nursery. Pierre was lying on Rupert's chest sleeping and Rupert had also fallen asleep. I stood and watched them for a few minutes…enjoying the beautiful sight of my handsome, sleeping boys.

When Pierre was four months old, the pressure started again from the Royal family and from Parliament. The King had just informed both Rupert and I that it was expected that we produce at least one more heir, in case something should go wrong with Pierre and his ability to assume the throne. I was nursing Pierre while contemplating the King's words. I could only focus on the one sentence "…_something should go wrong with Pierre_" and on the fact that the royal family almost "craved" another heir even before the pain from the birth of Pierre had worn off.

Rupert knew instinctively that I would retreat to the nursery after hearing what his father had told us. My facial expression had left no question as to how I felt about what was being said. He came in slowly and soundlessly, walking over to me and put his hand softly on my shoulder so I turned my head to look at him. "How are you Darling?" He asked softly.

"I don't know - confused I think." I whispered back.

"I can understand why. We'll have more children when we want - not when they do." He said lovingly and I nodded slowly.

"You do want more children right, Clarisse?" He asked suddenly uncertain.

"Of course Rupert, I couldn't even think about Pierre being an only child! But I would just like the opportunity to enjoy him first and then think about having more children later on!" I shared.

"I feel the same way, Clarisse!" He announced.

"Oh thank God." I sighed.

"Clarisse, I would never pressure you to do this, never!" He said as he looked me in the eyes. I handed him Pierre after a short while and he placed him in his bassinet.

"I know, Rupert; but I don't know all of the laws and royal traditions…even though I am trying to learn. As a result, I never know what would be right or wrong. Looking at your family; your second sister was born only twelve days after your oldest sister's first birthday!" I stated.

"Yes I know, Clarisse; and your parents had six children in ten years…just to please my parents so they would have a child that I could marry when the time was right. I would never ask you to go through that. I've already told you I would love to have lots of children; just not right away!" He smiled and held my chin up lightly and gave me a kiss filled with love.

He slowly led me out of the nursery, closing the door silently. He then turned around and looked at me with bright eyes; in an instant he was carrying me towards our bedroom. He kicked the door closed and almost ran over to the bed, laying me down gently. In one quick motion he was shirtless and on top of me. "Rupert, we just agreed on waiting to have more children!" I said as I caressed his face.

"I just want to make love with you now - not children!" He stated.

He slowly placed his lips on mine, pressing lightly at first and then a little harder. When I felt the pressure increase, I put my arms around his neck and opened my mouth to his. I slowly let my tongue run over his bottom lip, causing him to breathe in sharply, sucking out all of my air. Once I was able to breathe again, I deepened the kiss. Rupert followed my lead and slowly started unbuttoning my blouse, occasionally letting his hand run down over my lower body. I moaned a little with each caress. I felt his hand running over my exposed skin and under the material still covering my shoulders. He slowly pushed it down as I lifted in an effort to help him strip the blouse off of my body to give him better access.

I don't really remember what happened after that…it felt as though seconds later, we were both nude and fondling each other. Rupert rose a little and pressed his knee in between my legs and I willingly spread them for him. He quickly moved to settle himself and I instantly felt his length press at my centre, causing me to whimper for him to enter. He knew me well and recognized the sound. He pressed forward and I arched my back to allow him to enter fully. His hands were on my breasts, massaging them gently while setting a slow and sensual rhythm. He stroked his manhood back and forth between my slick folds. As my groaning and panting increased in both speed and volume, he quickened his pace and soon we both hit our climaxes. I hugged him tightly and stroked his back gently while he kissed my shoulder.

And then…I started laughing.

"What is it?" He questioned me with a puzzled look.

"Nothing - I was just thinking about what I will do to you if I find myself pregnant after this!" I laughed.

"Oh…and what would you do to me?" He asked curiously.

"I think I will have to hurt you badly!" I tried.

"Oh would you now? You and what army?" He laughed at me.

"MY army!" I stated firmly.

"For the record, darling, that is OUR army; and you can only get them to help you because you look better in a skirt than I do!" He bent down and kissed me.

Despite the fact that we do not want any more children right now, we have had more intimate moments and shared passion than we've had in a long, long time. That changed, however, after we were both scared to death about a month ago…

We were making an official appearance…the first one since the christening. In celebration of the birth of a royal heir and her first grandson, the Queen had a park built and named in Pierre's honour. All three of us were there for the official public opening.

"I hereby declare this park 'La Roche' as opened!" The Queen said and cut the red silk ribbon on the gate. The public cheered; some ran into the park from the side of the official opening. The other end of the park was already opened and filled with people. We entered slowly with Pierre in the stroller.

We were walking through the beautiful park when suddenly a woman interrupted our peace. "RUPERT, DON'T YOU WALK AWAY FROM ME!" The woman screamed from the top of her lungs.

I looked at Rupert, confused; he lovingly put his arm around me and softly told the guards to just ignore her. "Rupert, who is that woman?" I asked…confused this time since my look didn't get my point across.

"That is…..Belinda; she has been harassing my parents and me for years now." He calmly said.

"And Belinda is who?" I asked again

"Belinda is this woman who has been determined, like the Von Troken family, to become a royal. She was about sixteen years of age when I was born. She immediately approached my father and told him that when I was old enough, she would be ready to become my wife. Of course, my father politely turned her down. I think she may be the main reason that our postal service still exists – she has sent a letter each day to the palace, addressed to my father, mother or myself to offer her hand in marriage." He paused for a moment to let that knowledge sink in for me.

"After our marriage, which she was banned from so there would be no way for her to interrupt; she has sent a letter a week. Those letters, however have been confiscated ever since the first letter was opened because of their contents. Every time I make an appearance in public, she yells at me. No need to worry darling, I love you and will never leave you." He shared and kissed me softly on the cheek.

"Oh poor woman." I said inaudibly.

We had walked a little further when this Belinda-woman suddenly came running full force towards us. She ran as though her skirt was on fire. She ran past us, grabbing my darling Pierre on her way. In a blink of an eye, away she went with my son. I started screaming as the guards chased after her; I was so hysterical I couldn't stand. Rupert held on to me while barking out orders to all those around us. I cried in his arms as he rocked me back and forth, hoping to soon hear the whistles of the guards. As if on cue, the whistles were heard and I started running, my long skirt flying around my legs. I still don't know how I managed to get to the lake without tripping, but I got there faster than my usually very athletic husband and even faster than my bodyguard Jacob.

I stopped in my tracks when I saw her…out in the middle of the cold lake…with my little crying son in her arms. "STAY WHERE YOU ARE OR I'LL DROP HIM!" She screamed

A moment later Rupert came running up beside me, with Jacob and Eric in tow, "Now Belinda, we can talk this over. There is no need to harm my son." Rupert said as calmly as possible.

"OH RUPERT, WHY DIDN'T YOU MARRY ME INSTEAD OF THAT TART? I WAS WILLING FROM THE DAY YOU WERE BORN; SHE DOESN'T EVEN HAVE HALF THE CLASS OF WHAT I HAVE!" She loudly asked.

"Belinda, do you believe in love? Do you believe in love at first sight?" Rupert asked calmly

"Yes Rupert, yes I do. I know that we will be happy together; and I will try and love this bastard as if he were my own!" She said in a hyper voice looking down at my son.

"Then you must understand when I tell you that I love Clarisse; I love her more than life itself!" He said lovingly looking at me.

"NO! NO! NO! YOU DON'T LOVE HER - YOU DON'T. YOU LOVE ME! TELL ME YOU LOVE ME OR I WILL DROP HIM!" She threatened.

I saw Joseph walking out in the water slowly and soundlessly behind Belinda. I drew a breath that I held while Rupert, who had also noticed Joseph, kept speaking to her. He was trying to keep her attention away from what was happening behind her. Joseph hadn't even been on duty; he was just jogging in the park when he saw what had happened. He attempted this rescue as if it were the most natural thing.

"Belinda, you are 16 years older than me; we would never be happy." Rupert said.

"I WILL MAKE YOU HAPPY RUPERT; YOU ARE ALL I THINK ABOUT ALL DAY. I WILL BE A GOOD QUEEN FOR YOU. WHAT DOES SHE KNOW? SHE HAS DONE MORE DAMAGE TO THE THRONE THAN GOOD." She yelled and almost dropped Pierre into the cold water. With that slip, everyone made a shocked sound causing Joseph to stop dead in his tracks.

"Belinda, you know as well as I do that Clarisse has given the throne the best it could ever wish for…a male heir." He said smiling hoping to get Belinda to yell some more so Joseph could get closer.

"I WILL GIVE YOU THAT! I WILL GIVE YOU ANYTHING YOU WANT - ANYTHING. YOU DON'T NEED HER…YOU NEED ME, ME,ME……AAARRRGGGHHHH!" She screamed as Joseph grabbed Pierre from her and started moving away as fast as the water would let him. I started running around the lake in an effort to reach the other side as soon as possible so I would be able to hold my son in my arms again. Rupert followed closely behind. I think the other guards took care of Belinda, who was in complete distress by this time. I also think I recall her shouting, "I love you, Rupert!" all the way from the park.

Joseph handed me a crying Pierre as soon as he reached me. I was crying hysterics of joy by this time. Rupert was holding us and I kept saying, "Thank you, thank you, thank you" to Joseph. Once Pierre had relaxed in my arms, I handed him to Rupert and wound my arms around Joseph's neck, hugging him. In the middle of my joy, I gave him a kiss. I didn't realize what I had done until the next day when I saw a picture of it in the paper. Strangely, I couldn't really remember the kiss; but I remember the Queen's displeasure with my action. I didn't care, however, as what was most important to me, and to Rupert, was that this man had saved our little boy. As a result, he deserved every single form of gratitude I, or we, could give him.

So thanks to Joseph and a little luck, we still have our beautiful, healthy baby boy. We love him even more now, if that is possible. The King had, the beautiful snake, as he described Belinda put in a mental institution. It is our hope that we will never see or hear from her again. I have a meeting with Joseph in a few hours at which time I must ask him why he did this. He saved my darling Pierre, even when he wasn't on duty. I don't think I could live if something had happened to Pierre and I will forever be grateful to Joseph for his actions on that fateful day.

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**Just a little info the park is named La Roche, which mean a rock which is the meaning of the name Pierre. And the crazy woman's name Belinda really does mean Beautiful snake.**

**Again thank you for reading till the end hope you enjoyed, please take the two minutes it take **

**and leave your comment no matter if it's **_**hate it **_**or**_** love it. **_**Thank you!!!!**


	12. Ups and Downs

**Ups and Downs**

Time sure flies. I cannot believe that it has been thirteen months already. Pierre is one year and one month old now. He walks and it certainly very good at expressing his feelings. No one at the palace can say that they aren't aware when Pierre is angry; he can be heard over the loudest of noises. Rupert continues to be a very proud father; any chance he gets, he brags about Pierre's accomplishments and is amazed at Pierre's ability to know what is being said to him either in English or French. According to my darling husband, our son is nothing short of a genius.

In the past six months, we have certainly had our ups and downs. I thank God that it has mostly been the ups. The downs, though few, have not been pleasant. My mother is getting weaker and no doctor has yet been able to determine why. Rupert's father, Genovia's King, is also weakening. He had not had trouble with his heart for a long time, but now it has weakened some more. This, of course, worries us. He is even considering stepping down as King and let Rupert assume the throne.

"Clarisse, Rupert I'm not getting any younger or healthier; we all know this. I am still contemplating my decision; but I want to let you both know so that you can prepare. I'm thinking about stepping down as King of Genovia." He said.

Rupert grabbed my hand at his father's last words; I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze and received a faint smile in return. "But father, Genovian Kings, at least those of the Renaldi line, have always remained on the throne to their very last day!" Rupert exclaimed.

"I know son, but change is good. I think, no I know, that Genovia will benefit from having the two of you ruling her!" He shared with a smile. I could see that Rupert didn't know what to say.

"Thank you, father; we will do the best we can. Would it be possible that you could give us at least a year before making it reality?" I asked nervously.

"As I said my darling Clarisse, I'm only in the deciding process - nothing is final yet." He smiled at me as I let out the breath I hadn't realised I had been holding.

"Thank you, father, I will be honoured to take the throne whenever you decide that it is time and I am ready. I only hope I will be as good and fair of a ruler as you!" Rupert said and bowed to his father who in turn pulled Rupert into a fatherly embrace.

After a brief moment, he moved Rupert to arm's length to look him in the eye. "Your mother and I have already been talking about this; we have arranged for your portrait to be painted soon, so that, when the time is right, it will be ready for your coronation." King Albert said and nodded towards the Queen.

"With all due respect, father, if I am to be painted, I would like to be painted with Clarisse and Pierre." Rupert politely requested.

The Queen, of course, was not pleased with this and offered quickly, "Oh what nonsense, Rupert dear, you will be painted, alone, in your uniform and that's that!" With her statement, the Queen left the room. Rupert mimicked her departure seconds later, slamming the door as he left. I excused myself after the door slammed; I wanted to go my office to think this over for a short while. I needed to think about what this would mean for me, for Rupert, and especially for little Pierre. I didn't make it to my office because, by the entrance to the Red Room, Rupert stood quietly and very pensive. He looked up at the sound of my heels clicking on the marble floor and offered his hand; I took it and let him lead me in silence down the hall.

It was not until we reached the destination Rupert had in mind that he finally spoke. We were standing in the middle of the throne room, hand in hand. Rupert raised my hand to his lips and planted a soft but loving kiss on it. "Clarisse, look around. These walls contain the Renaldi royal line through the past 500 years or so. Look closely at each painting." Rupert requested.

I let go of his hand and walked over to the first painting and studied it as I did each and everyone until I reached the painting of my father in-law, King Albert III. I turned around facing Rupert again with a questioning look. "I don't see what it is you want me to look at." I said and turned around to look at the paintings again.

"What do you see, Clarisse?" Rupert asked.

"All of your, no our, ancestors; all the rulers of our beloved Genovia!" I answered

"Exactly darling, all the _rulers_ and nothing or no one else!" Rupert said with an angry tone

"Dear, what is it?" I inquired

"I wanted you to understand why I said no to my parents when they told me that only I had to have my portrait painted for when I am to be crowned King. I want you to rule Genovia at my side as my equal. I do not wish to do it alone. I want to, shall we say, share the responsibility with my wife. You are an intelligent woman and I adore and admire you and your passion for helping our people. I want you to have your say in what we do to or with this country. And that is why I want us to have our portrait painted, together." He said seriously while walking to where I stood.

"Oh Rupert, I will love to rule our Genovia by your side!" I said teary eyed

"As my equal - your word will be as good as mine!" He looked into my eyes and smiled

"Thank you, Rupert!" I stammered

Right there, in the middle of the throne room, we shared a kiss, filled with love and tenderness, yet also passionate. When we broke apart Rupert looked at me from head to toe and back again and smiled widely.

"What is it, Rupert?" I asked.

"Nothing darling, I was just thinking that the painter will have to hurry." He said

"And why is that my dear?" I tilted my head

"First, because I don't think that we can hide it much longer; and second, because I want a thousand portraits of you all over the palace. I want to be able to see you where ever I am!" He said smiling even wider.

I blushed at his admissions and covered my lower abdomen with our hands. "I don't think we can hide this much longer either." I whispered and tiptoed to give him a soft little kiss.

Yes, we are pregnant again. We had talked about waiting until Pierre was at least a year old, but about three months ago, I found out, quite by accident, that I was pregnant again. I had fallen off of a horse on one of our competitive riding trips and Rupert had insisted on having me completely checked over by the doctor. During the examination, he learned that not only was I not hurt by my fall, but he also discovered what would be a perfectly healthy Crown Prince or Princess and an excuse to congratulate us.

Two weeks later we sent out the press release:

_Genovian Palace, Ju__ly 26, 1961_

Their Royal Highnesses, the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, are happy to announce the pregnancy of Crown Princess, Clarisse.

It is expected that the birth will take place at Genovia Memorial Hospital in the beginning of February, 1962.

The Crown Princess will continue to fulfil her official duties as long as possible.

C. Beaufrere  
Chief of the Court of  
TRH the Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Genovia 

We really weren't trying to get pregnant; especially because we didn't want to live our lives according to what Parliament wants. As a result, it initially was not a joy to learn of my pregnancy. However, now that I am showing, we've accepted it to the fullest. We are looking forward to this new addition to our family. News of the baby seems to have put some more life into both Rupert's father and my mother; it was so lovely and sweet to see how their faces lit up at the news.

I am now four months along and I am huge. Even Pierre can't help but notice and pats my belly and says Ba-Ba every time he sees me. Rupert has told him repeatedly that 'Mama has a baby in her belly' and he my darling son feels compelled, each time someone comes by, to run and pat my belly to share the news. I think it is rather sweet.

One of the other downs that we've experienced is the destruction of buildings we were about to transform into a home for the elderly. They were set on fire and burned to the ground. We are currently searching for another location for the building. We don't believe this will be a problem, though, as the people of Genovian are more than willing to help. We will have to look at the budget once more and are hopeful that we will not have to move more from the children's education fund. I have thought about suggesting to Rupert or the King a decrease in pay for the Parliamentarians as I am certain that would give us the resources necessary to build what's needed. I don't think, however, that it will be a likable suggestion.

The first two weeks of July were spent, as always, on a Royal cruise visiting the countries that import Genovian Pears. This was Pierre's first time on a ship and he was ecstatic. I was very comforted to see how seriously the staff had taken their precautions about having a very small boy on board. Everything was covered and secured; we knew we only had to worry if he had inherited his mother's non-existent sea legs. Lucky for us, he hadn't and mine had improved.

We visited Rupert's second oldest sister, Nathalie, and her husband, Eric, Duke of Shempearl, during the cruise. I became very close with my sister in law whom I last saw briefly at my wedding. It was nice to be able to talk with a woman that lived in the real world, so to speak. She had met Eric at a ball in England and they had fallen in love. King Albert had given them his word of approval and they now have four children, all girls. We were able to talk like we had known each other for the longest time…that was a very nice feeling. Rupert felt the urge to strengthen their relationship and had shared the news of our newest family addition with Nathalie and Eric. I had to agree that it felt good to tell them…it was as if some pressure had been removed.

On the final week of the cruise, we had three whole days at sea. Rupert and Joseph found a mutual interest in fishing. I found it very relaxing to sit on the deck and watch my husband stand with a fishing poll in one hand and holding Pierre with the other. I enjoyed watching Joseph, standing beside them, carrying on a conversation with Rupert like they were old friends. My calm was interrupted, though, when they suddenly turned towards me and started quizzing me. "Darling, will you please tell Joseph here about that big fish I caught two months ago?" Rupert requested.

"Oh your Highness, I believe you; I simply pointed out the fact that I have caught one that's bigger!" Joseph teased.

"Nonsense, I was told this was the largest ever caught. Am I right darling?" He asked.

I did not respond but just looked at them through my sunglasses and smiled.

"Her silence may be intended to not insult you, your Highness!" Joseph tried

"No. No. No, that is simply not the case. Darling tell…!" Rupert started.

His pleading was cut short, however, as I interrupted him. "Gentlemen, stop this at once! Chéri, hand over our son. I will not have him poisoned by your stories and efforts to surpass each other. Oh, and Joseph, let me give you a bit of advice…let him win now or you will never sleep again." I laughed as I bounced Pierre on my hip.

"What do you mean by that?" Rupert asked, trying to sound hurt.

"You know perfectly well what I mean, Mister!" I insisted and started to move off the deck with a little assistance from Eric, Rupert's bodyguard.

"You are not being fair now, Clarisse!" He said and started chasing me. As I passed the nanny, I handed Pierre to her so I would be able to run a little faster. We heard squeals of joy from our son as he watched his Papa chasing his screaming Mama. Fortunately, the Nanny kept Pierre because the chase ended in our bedroom, as it does most times while we are "playing".

We began to kiss and make love. "You are the best and greatest thing I have ever caught; I would love to see Joseph top this!" Rupert managed to say before I covered his mouth.

"Be quiet! If you think I'm the best and greatest and that there is no way Joseph can top this, then why don't you let him win all the others?" I smiled at him.

"He is like a brother to me; I feel the need to surpass him in everything!" He laughed.

"Fine; I'll try to live with it…just don't drag me into your battles anymore." I begged and received a kiss as an answer.

We had the best time on that cruise. Even though both the King and Queen were on board as well, we didn't see or hear much from them. Oh and it should be noted that Rupert did let Joseph win a few of their battles.

Today is an "up" day as I have a sleeping Pierre on my ever-growing belly and my husband is studying a binder filled with various papers preparing for his first full year in Parliament. I just hope he will still have time for Pierre and the new child; I've seen how occupied his father always is. He has promised me, though; that he will remember he has a family. I just hope it is possible to run both a country and a family at the same time. For now, he just has to help me out as this little one growing inside of me promises to be rather large; I'm already twice the size I was with Pierre. I am hoping to have another little boy. Everyone keeps asking me if I'm wishing for a girl. When I say no, they just look at me strangely and don't inquire any further. While I wish for a boy, my first and foremost wish is for a healthy child.


	13. Euphoric

**Ok I did something completely wrong here so I will have to just say thank you so much to those of you who reviewed, I would love to thank you by name but as I said I did something wrong here. Thank you so much to Shakayla for being my fantastic beta that has edited this chappy even though she is exstreamly busy. Thank you mama, I love you!!!!**

**OK, just to let you know, I've gone a little AU on this now, please don't kill me!!!**

**Now on to the story...**

**Euphoric**

Euphoric: This is the most fitting word for this country right now. Everyone is euphoric. The King, the Queen, the palace staff, the rest of our family and, especially Rupert are euphoric enough for the entire population. Ten days ago I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Just as when my pregnancy was announced, the flowers arrived daily; the same has happened since the birth of our daughter. The King is so happy to have a princess granddaughter because all three of his own girls married outside of their royal title. I think he hopes this little girl won't follow in her aunt's footsteps.

My pregnancy was very easy compared to my time with Pierre. I was huge this time which led to a great deal of speculation in the public and the press. Every day we would read papers sporting headlines like: _"Is our lovely Crown Princess pregnant with twins?" _or _"Double happiness?" _We found these quite amusing to read.

There were times, though, as a woman that I found it a bit difficult to find the humour in since I was the object of their articles. Rupert was very patient with me, though. "Darling, am I really that…ample?" I asked.

"No, of course not my love; of course not; you know how the press is." He comforted me.

"Yes, I know; but look at this picture. Is that really me?" I questioned.

"Darling, you know the press; they will say or do anything. Unfortunately, as you know, that comes with the territory when you're a royal." He tried again.

"Seriously though, Rupert; I am huge. Admit it!" I demanded.

"Clarisse, you are eight months pregnant!" He stated as he looked at me.

"So I'm not huge - just pregnant. Is that what you mean? I asked sternly.

"Clarisse, stop this please. What do you want me to say? Yes, you are a tad larger than you were with Pierre; no I don't mind it; and finally yes I still love you more than life itself." He said lovingly and leaned over and kissed me. We had that conversation repeatedly during most of the pregnancy…poor Rupert. He was very patient; although I didn't start pestering him until after my sixth month. I started at that point mostly because a lot of people started questioning how soon I would give birth…so when they started bothering me…I started bothering him.

We celebrated Rupert's birthday about the same time I reached the end of my second trimester. I had taken a long time selecting my dress because I wanted it to be beautiful and didn't want it to look TOO much like a maternity dress. I had been looking at drawings and sketches from a dozen dressmakers; but none of them seemed to be _the one. _

My aide, however, came to my rescue. I was sitting in my office looking at Monsieur Mat's sketches…they seemed so dull and not at all ladylike. "Oh why isn't there just one that would be just a little like what I'm looking for…something that won't show or hide my pregnancy, but rather will embrace it?" I questioned more to myself than anyone else.

"I don't know, your highness. Would you like me to send for other dressmakers?" My aide, Adelle, asked with the phone in hand.

"No. One of these will just have to do. Though neither are very elegant or modern. I just want something simple." I said again more to myself than her. I rose and walked towards the sitting area passing by where Adelle was sitting.

I looked down at the papers she was writing on and was stunned to find the dress I had been looking for right there on her notepad. "Adelle, there it is - the dress I'm looking for! Did you just draw this?" I asked almost in a shout.

"Yes. I just drew this to remember what you had said about the dress you wanted. I was going to pass it on to you when I was finished." She blushed.

"Oh my Adelle; had I just known that you where such a genius, I wouldn't have had to look at all those dreadful dresses; I would simply just have dictated to you what I would love and then you could draw it and have someone sew it!" I happily said.

"I'm glad to be of service, Your Highness!" She added.

From her efforts, I ended up with this perfect empire style dress that was strapless and tight over the bust area. There was a floor length flowing skirt starting right under the bust line. The skirt made the dress somewhat hide my pregnant form while still embracing it. It achieved the overall affect that I wanted. The dress was a beautiful dark orange colour with sparkling sequins covering it.

I must admit that being six months pregnant and the size I was, it didn't make it easy to get dressed…no matter how beautiful the dress might be. If my maids hadn't been so patient, I don't think I would ever have gotten dressed.

"Clarisse, darling, are you soon done?" Rupert asked from the sitting area of our suite.

"Yes. Yes. You know it's entirely your fault that this takes so long!" I shouted through door at him.

"My fault; how on earth can it be my fault that you cannot get dressed in a timely manner?" He questioned.

I came out from my dressing room and walked straight over to where he sat. Rupert kept staring at me with his mouth hanging wide open. I tilted my head and narrowed my eyes slightly before I placed a hand on my growing belly. "You are the reason for this! You try and dress with this in the way while trying to look great for your husband!"

"My…my…my Clarisse, you are stunning!" was the only response he could stutter.

"Thank you darling. I'm glad you approve. I had it made especially for this evening!" I smiled at him and caressed his cheek softly.

"If we weren't already late and you being as pregnant as you are, I would simply have to ravish you right here and now!" Rupert said in awe.

"Rupert, behave!" I scolded.

"I'm trying to Clarisse; but it seems you bring out the worst in me!" He laughed. I laughed with him, as he lightly caressed my belly. As he continued his movements, our child responded and kicked his hand, which made him smile even more.

We danced and enjoyed ourselves the entire evening; laughing and talking with friends and family. When we finally went to bed, we snuggled together in the middle. Rupert put a hand on my belly again and once again our child responded with a kick. He was humoured immensely; so he made a daily practice, for the remainder of my pregnancy, to make sure to place a hand on my growing form and receive his daily kick. He laughed happily every time.

Two weeks before my due date, we attended a dressage tournament. We didn't want to be there; but this was an annual event, and the royal family always attended. So, of course, we had to be there. The event took place in February. For the sake of the horses, the temperature was kept down; so it was a bit cold even in the heated royal box because of the cold air that still surrounded us.

"This horse ballet is as boring as watching paint dry." Rupert whispered to me after an hour.

"I know; and the cold in here is almost unbearable!" I whispered back, shivering.

"Darling, are you alright?" Rupert asked the concern evident in his voice.

"Just a little cold dear, I could use another blanket!" I added softly and watched Rupert call for another blanket and some more tea.

"Is something wrong?" The Queen asked.

"Clarisse is just cold, Mother." Rupert shared with a small smile.

"I suggest, then, that you get her some more warmth as the cold has been said to increase the possibility of a child being still born." The Queen coldly said without taking her eyes off of the course.

"Mother, how can you say that? Clarisse is nine months pregnant; she can give birth any day now." Rupert asked in a loud and shocked voice.

Shortly after his outburst, the clerk, assisted by Jacob, came with a couple of blankets and more tea; soon after I was feeling much warmer. Five hours later the tournament had reached it finale. I was encouraged as we would only have to sit through about one more hour in order to present the winners with their prizes.

"Rupert, we don't have to stay until the end, do we?" I softly inquired.

"I'm afraid so darling; unless you can come up with a really good excuse not to stay!" He chuckled at me and winked.

"Oh believe me; I can come up with a very good excuse." I said.

"I will bet you anything in the world that you cannot come up with an excuse my mother will accept as appropriate!" He challenged me with questioning eyes.

"I wouldn't say that if I were you Rupert." I warned.

"Why is that dear? Try me…what is your excuse?" He questioned, turning in his chair taking a hold of my gloved hand.

"I'm in labour." I softly shared.

"What? Here? Now?" Rupert panicked.

"Darling, would you just relax? We don't need unwanted attention right now." I calmly added.

"How long have you been in labour?" Rupert questioned as he motioned for Eric and Jacob to come over.

"I think it started when we arrived; the cold didn't help. It has just continued to progress since then and now, I believe, it is time to leave." I shared calmly as another contraction hit. I breathed slowly and made my way through it while clutching Rupert's hand, not revealing any signs of labour.

I heard Rupert ask Eric to inform the security staff of the situation so they could keep the road clear for us to pass smoothly. He also asked Jacob to bring the car up front. As they left…so did the pain of the contraction. "Rupert, I will go out now. I am hoping people will think I'm leaving for the ladies room. You follow shortly after, ok. I don't want to let everyone know what's happening right now. I have roughly six minutes to get out of here before the next pain hits, so I will see you in a short while. Please do remember to tell your mother." I reminded and gave him a soft kiss on his dumbfounded face.

"I will darling." He replied, nodding and I left with two security guards. No one suspected a thing.

I was sitting in the car, breathing calmly through another contraction when Rupert opened the door and practically threw himself inside. He took hold of my hand that was resting on the car seat. "Darling, you are amazing!" He said.

"What makes you say that?" I breathlessly questioned.

"Here you are…about to deliver our second child…and you are so calm and collected. I remember your labour with Pierre; I still have the scar. You were screaming and yelling so loud that the entire country could hear you were about to give birth and I thought I would be deaf by the time we got to the hospital." Rupert sort of laughed.

"Don't call me calm and collected too early…you might still get injured!" I smiled at him.

"I'll take the risk." He said and leaned in and gave me a small kiss. I had placed my hand on his cheek and just as he pulled back another contraction hit. My fingers instinctively curled causing me to scratch him. I, however, did not notice that until much later.

We arrived at the hospital about ten minutes later and I was wheeled into the delivery room. Rupert was, again, told to say outside. I saw his face before the door closed…it was the saddest expression I've ever seen. I took matters into my own hand and when the nurse told me that the midwife would be here in twenty minutes, I asked her to have Rupert come in. She refused at first; but then she reluctantly let him in the delivery room. He immediately rushed over to where I was. "You wanted me in here Clarisse? Is something wrong?" He asked concerned.

"No. Nothing is wrong; I just wanted you in here with me. I couldn't stand the though of having you out there being so sad." I told him.

"Oh I'm just sad that you have to go through this pain again while I have to stay out there listening to you in pain. I hate not being able to do anything for you!" He shared while caressing my hair and holding my hand.

"Don't feel sad for me going through this pain…it's forgotten as fast as lightning. I would do it again anytime; but this doesn't hurt as much as la...!" I closed my eyes and breathed heavily as I clutched Rupert's hand. He whispered encouraging words to me during the contraction.

We were abruptly interrupted when the door was thrown open and in strutted the midwife from Pierre's birth. She immediately was appalled by the presence of Rupert in my delivery room. "I'm sorry, your Highness; but you will have to leave the room now." She said while writing something down.

"I will leave in a minute." He replied looking me in the eyes.

"Not in a minute, your Highness, now. Her Highness is about ready to deliver and I will not have you in here during that time, thank you!" She rudely said.

"Darling I will be right outside. If you want me in here, please say so..."

"She will not be in charge in here; so just kiss and leave. Thank you!" The midwife interrupted. Rupert, who was too shocked to say anything, leaned over and gave me a kiss. I held on to his face not wanting him to leave.

When he opened the door, he turned around and looked at me with apologizing eyes. I saw a hand come into view and grasp his shoulder. "I will look after her Rupert; don't you worry." I heard the Queen say. I sighed happily knowing everything would be alright now.

I had just informed the midwife that I could feel the baby press downwards; and in seconds the midwife was instructing me to push. The Queen was holding my hand once again…just as she had done with Pierre. The only difference this time is that I didn't make a sound…I didn't feel the same pain this time. It did, however, take a long time getting the baby the rest of the way out.

All of the pushing on each contraction quickly tired me out. Rupert, though, gave me the renewed energy I needed when he burst into the room because he hadn't heard anything from inside for the past hour. A shocked look crossed his face when he saw what childbirth really looked like. His feet were frozen to the spot until Walter, with his eyes closed, came into the room and had to pull him away.

While he was doing that…what I needed to do was get this child out. With two more pushes, the midwife informed me that I just delivered a princess. Her news brought tears to both mine and my mother in-law's eyes. She turned euphoric when she was passed the baby. She cradled the tiny girl in her arms and seemed to have trouble giving up the little girl to me. She did relent, though, and handed me the sweet bundle as she gave me a kiss on the cheek indicating she would go get Rupert.

The midwife cleaned me up and removed everything before she left the room. Rupert opened the door, still looking a bit shocked. He walked over to my bed, "Clarisse are…are you…alright?" He asked.

"Oh poor darling, this is why God decided to have women give birth. Was it really that bad to see me bringing our daughter into this world?" I questioned.

"Yes. Yes it was. You looked like you were in so much pain but you just kept going. There was so much blood; I thought you would…daughter? Did you just say daughter?" He asked puzzled and I just nodded smiling at him.

"It is a girl! We have a girl! Oh my god, Clarisse. Thank you, thank you, and thank you. This is amazing!" He said as he jumped up and down like a four year old. I then felt his lips crash down upon mine.

When we finally broke apart, he looked down at the sleeping bundle in my arms. "Can I hold her?" He softly asked.

"Of course darling, you don't have to ask." I said and handed him our tiny girl.

"Hi there, little one; welcome to the world. Even though you caused your beautiful mother a lot of pain, you are most welcome." Rupert cooed, smiling.

"It wasn't as bad as the first time." I softly added while watching our daughter wrap her tiny hand around her father's finger.

"Well I'm sorry I burst in the way I did, darling; but I thought something was terribly wrong. I hadn't heard you scream like you did with Pierre." He said not looking at me, but down at our daughter.

"It doesn't matter, Rupert; besides seeing your face that way renewed my energy to push even harder to get her out." I tiredly said and stifled a yawn.

"See you've tired your mother out completely. I'm glad I could help Clarisse." He said and leaned down and gave me another kiss.

"I just wish that you could have been in here with me and experience this phenomenon when a child is brought into the world." I softly said, smiling at father and daughter.

"Some day, Clarisse, some day." He said as the door opened and in came the doctors, nurses, midwives and, of course, Charles Beaufrere. Congratulations were given and thanks for giving Genovia a new princess. I also saw the Queen standing quietly at the back of the room. I caught her eye and mouthed a 'thank you' and she simply smiled at me.

"Congratulation, your highness, and thank you for giving Genovia a new little princess; I have a press release ready or do you wish to do it differently this time?" Charles asked.

"Oh I don't know. Rupert do you want to make the announcement to the press or will a press release do fine this time as well?" I turned my head and looked at Rupert who was still holding our daughter and rocking her slightly.

"I will not hand this girl over until she is hungry; so a press release will do fine!" Rupert said sending me one of those blinding smiles he always uses when he is confident and more than happy.

"Do you wish to read this one as well your Highness?" Charles asked me and handed me the paper, I took it and read.

**_A Princess is born_**_  
_

_On Saturday February _

Weight: 3150 grs., length: 50 cm.

Mother and child are doing fine.

_C. Beaufrere  
Chief of the Court of  
TRH The Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Genovia _

The press release was perfect just as it had been last time. Since her birth, the country has gone pink. A member of Parliament even suggested that we change our national symbol, our flag, from the blue, white and green flag to a pink one. Additionally, I don't think there are any more pink flowers in Genovia; every single one must be here at the palace. Rupert brings me a new pink rose every day.

The most challenging part of this was our trip home from the hospital, Rupert arrived early in the morning with Pierre on one arm and the pink rose. When we were leaving, the press was in full force. Everyone wanted to see our beautiful girl and everyone wanted to know her name. While they got their pictures, they will have to wait for the name.

Pierre was having fun with all the photographers and kept waving to them. He also wanted some attention from his mother, so half way through the hospital lobby, we had to switch. This caused the cameras go off even more. Rupert was very generous with showing off our daughter and more than happy to be more in the spotlight, I think.

Once we were finally seated in the car, we relaxed. "BABY!" Pierre screamed.

"Yes darling that is a baby; your baby sister." I told him while running a finger over her forehead.

"He has been waiting for this all morning…wanting to see his Mama." Rupert shared, while looking at our sleeping daughter.

"Oh how sweet! Have you thought about a name Rupert?" I asked wanting to know if he had decided on something.

"Yes I have and I hope you approve. We honoured our fathers with Pierre and so we here have the chance to honour our mothers. You mentioned a name that has lodged itself firmly in my head for the past few months." He said cleverly.

"Rupert, what is the name?" I asked impatiently.

"Christelle! Maud Theresa Christelle Gerard Renaldi." He said and looked at me.

"That is beautiful Rupert, I love it!" I kissed him and looked down at our sleeping daughter in her father's arms and then down to Pierre, who was drifting off in mine.

We were almost home when our daughter woke up with a cry that would have raised a dead man. She was hungry. She has a huge appetite and she sleeps well. This is fortunate so there have not been too many sleepless nights so far; but, then again, she is only ten days old. We look forward to enjoying our two children to the fullest until we, once again, will have to return to our duties.

We both know that either the royal family or Parliament will at some point crave another heir to the throne since a girl is most likely to marry outside of her own country. As a result, another male heir will be desired. I find it terrible to be thinking about these things only ten days after our daughter's birth…but I suppose that it is part of my duty and that I eventually will learn to live with it.

**I just don't think that Clarisse and Rupert would be happy with just two children, so in my world they have more, if you don't like this please let me know and I will see what I can do about it!!!! Please read and review!!!! Thank you!!!!**


	14. And everything in between

**Thank you so much; ****Della Stree-Mason, Captain Weirdo and CJmynixMG for your wonderful reviews. I think it fits them to have a little girl. I was thinking a lot about how this labour should start, coz I think it would be cool to let it happen a "weird" or at least a public place. I'm glad you liked it!!! **

**Oh one little thing I don't know if I've said this before, but I'm positive that Clarisse and Rupert at one point was in love, maybe not on the highest level but still very much in love and that love grew into the fondness she mentions in the movie. **

**Well on to the story….**

**And everything in between.**

It is unbelievable how much we've changed in the past eight months. Rupert's father has gotten better so he has decided to remain as the ruling monarch of Genovia. My mother has gotten no better and no worse. The Queen, as well, remains the same; I only feel her being kind when I'm in terrible pain. Rupert and I have grown as well; having Christelle has really matured us. Of course the children have changed. It is amazing to watch Pierre with Christelle and seeing her responding to him. Seeing them together is so sweet; I could just watch them all day.

There were, of course, a few traditions we had to follow surrounding the christening of our little girl. The upcoming event attracted almost more attention than Pierre's did; and that, of course, upset the Queen. Obviously it annoys her that I did things in what is considered the "right" way; first a boy and then a girl. She did, however, soften up a bit at the christening - especially when she heard the name.

"What is the name of the child?" The bishop asked.

"Maud Theresa Christelle Gerard Renaldi!" I proudly said and eyed both my mother and the Queen. I enjoyed seeing them both beam with pride. Rupert, too, was beaming as he held Pierre on his arm through out the entire ceremony. Once the ceremony was complete, Pierre couldn't hold out any longer and feel asleep on his father's shoulder. Once we arrived back at the palace for a lunch with our closest friends and family, the nannies took both Pierre and Christelle to their rooms for a nap so we could enjoy a nice day with our guests. They had been given, of course, instructions to let us both know when the children woke up.

About half way through the informal lunch, my mother came and took my hand. "My sweets, I must say you surprise me. You've grown so since you moved to live with their Majesties." She softly said.

"Oh Mother, it is all thanks to you. If I hadn't seen you bring up six children to perfection, I don't think I would ever have wanted children." I said and placed my hand on top of hers.

"What does that have to do with the fact that you've grown?" She asked.

"I've grown because I've had children, Mother!" I said as I tilted my head.

"There is something else; I just can't put my finger on it!" She said as she cupped my cheek.

At that moment Rupert came over to the table and began talking softly with his father. They talked for a few moments before they turned to address us. The King patted Rupert on the shoulder and turned towards us. "Ladies, are you enjoying this fine warm April day?" He asked, smiling.

"Yes thank you, your Majesty. I hope you are as well. What a fine day to celebrate our granddaughter!" My mother answered and looked over at Rupert and I. "There it is; you are in love!" She added smiling and started to get up. She began to follow the path the King had just taken, moving towards my father when Rupert spoke.

"Yes Mother; yes we are. But then how could any man not help to fall in love with your daughter? Maybe this would be a good time to thank you for her!" Rupert said as he put his arms around me and kissed my cheek.

"No need to thank me; you just treat her right!" My mother said and squeezed Rupert's hand.

"I will mother. I promise to treat her like a true queen!" Rupert said and smiled.

"No - do not treat her like a true queen; treat her like a woman…like the woman she is." She said and walked away.

"What did she mean by that?" Rupert questioned.

"I'm not sure; but I think its something like; keep your feet on the ground and stay real. Rupert I've been taught, ever since I was a little girl, how to act, support and pleasure my husband, the future king. I think when you said that about a true queen, my mother just wanted you to know that I'm not born into royalty, but married into it." I said softly.

"I understand. Now let's go get something to drink. I love you!" He said and leaned in and gave me a sweet and tender kiss.

In May, we attended the wedding of Prince Juan Carlo, heir to the Spanish throne, and Princess Sofia of Greece. They both attended our wedding separately. It was somewhat odd to attend this wedding. I have adored Sofia ever since I met her; but here I was two years younger than her and I have already been married for a long time and have two children. Of course, I wouldn't trade it for anything…well maybe some more privacy!

The wedding was beautiful and this time we didn't interrupt anything. We really enjoyed ourselves. I had reluctantly agreed to let Pierre stay home and only bring Christelle and her nanny for the wedding. We talked, danced, and laughed with friends and family. There is, of course, always one person who ruins the fun for awhile. This wedding was no exception. This time it was Rupert's cousin, Theodore. It was his wedding that we were accused of interrupting before. It all started with him spilling his drink all over Countess Mathilda's dress and starting to wipe it off himself before she slapped him across the face for touching her bosom.

He continued by offending his young, pretty, naïve and very pregnant wife. He then walked from table to table getting even drunker. He then came back to the large group where I was standing. He grabbed my hand and started dragging me towards the dance floor. I tried very diplomatically to tell him that I needed to go feed my daughter, I had promised this dance to my husband, and any other number of different excuses to try to get away from him. It wasn't until I was pulled hard against him that I caught Rupert's eye. At my request, he had been upstairs to check on Christelle. I could see Rupert starting to press his way towards me through the crowd. He reached me just as Theodore grabbed my behind and was about to fondle me. I tried to wriggle myself out of his grip; but it was Rupert's fist to Theodore's nose that broke him of off me.

"Don't you EVER touch my wife again!" Rupert stated in a warning tone as he put a protective arm around me.

"Just because you got the best woman there is – why not share her with the rest of us?" Theodore tried while holding his nose.

"First of all, because you are not Clarisse worthy; second, we live in a monogamous law bound country…and thank God for that; and, finally, she is all mine!" He said and kissed my shocked expression. We walked away from the dance floor, leaving someone else to pick up Theodore.

Once out in the hall, I turned and looked at Rupert. "Promise me you will never get that way when you reach his age, and never again leave me alone with him in the room!" I said.

"Never my dear – never; as I said you are mine and only mine. I will never let another man have and hold you for as long as I live!" He spoke softly and stepped closer until his lips again touched mine.

Theodore was nowhere to be found for the rest of the party. I learned later that his wife left alone the next morning…the poor woman. I am happy that my marriage is not like hers. I have married a sweet, tender and loving man that cares about me and my point of views. To many Genovians, I'm nothing more than a birthing machine that has the sole purpose to secure the continuation of the Renaldi bloodline. To Rupert, however, I'm his wife, his lover, his equal, his confidant and his friend. I love all of the challenges I meet and I welcome them all with open arms. Well, almost all of the challenges. Those that includes Rupert's drunken cousins, I could easily do without!

About two months ago, a large number of different newspapers started debating about us and our children. It all started from one little situation a couple of reporters witnessed: Pierre had been running around a fountain when he fell and scraped his knee. He kept crying and crying and crying. The nanny was upstairs, so the only person with me at the moment was Joseph. So without asking, I simply handed him Christelle and went to Pierre to kiss his knee to make the pain go away. When I had finally gotten him to stop crying and drinking some lemonade, we walked up to the terrace I had abandoned a short while ago.

Joseph was just standing there with my baby girl in his arms; holding her like he would a pile of wood for the fireplace. I simply had to laugh at him. "You are not a baby man, are you?" I asked as I got Pierre some more lemonade.

"No Madame, not at all!" Joseph answered.

"You don't have children yourself? Or do you wish to have children yourself?" I questioned him.

"I do not have any at the moment; but I do wish to have children – someday." He softened with his answer.

"Then practice now; you cannot hold a child like that - hold her closer to your body." I told him and motioned for him to pull Christelle closer.

"I cannot do that with the little princess!" He said, shocked.

"Of course you can! I won't mind and she definitely won't." I said.

Joseph nestled my little girl and held her closer to his chest. The moment she looked up at him, I saw his cool façade slip away like butter on a hot summer day. After a few minutes, though, my tiny girl screamed loudly. I was sure the entire country could hear her. She certainly scared Joseph, but luckily for him Rupert emerged from the hall and walked straight over to him and took our daughter in his arms.

"Oh sweetheart, you cannot scare Joseph like that. You should just tell him nicely that you want to go to Mama or that you are hungry." He told Christelle.

"Thank you, though Joseph and thank you darling. I will just take her over here and feed her." I said softly and walked over to the chair behind the small wall to feed our daughter.

Based on those few moments, they started debating about the fact that I had just handed the little princess to a guard, making it impossible for him to do his job without harming Christelle or not being able to get to me in time. This had Rupert boiling because he felt the press was giving potential intruders ideas. Many of the newspapers were also shocked by the fact that I was still breastfeeding or just that I was breastfeeding at all. Apparently they didn't find it appropriate when I had the chance to use a wet nurse. Additionally, Renaldi women had never before breastfeed their children themselves. Of course, this is not the first thing I've or we've done that the Renaldi family normally hasn't done.

They are also debating whether or not we are going to do the same with Christelle as we did with Pierre and get pregnant again before Christelle rounds her first year. Their source is apparently a maid that's no longer employed at the palace. She has told stories to the press that mostly reveals that we can't keep our hands of off each other. Neither Rupert nor I care about this and we are trying to let this slide. We are, however, loaded with ammunition for the press in case they won't.

Actually we are taking precaution on this subject. A few months ago, Rupert and I were relaxing outside discussion the possibility for another pregnancy. Rupert turned the conversation around a bit and it ended up being very awkward for Joseph, Eric and me…but mostly me.

"Gentlemen help us out here." Rupert requested and motioned for them to take a seat. They refused, of course, as they were working.

"Rupert please, this is a private matter between you and me. I do not see the need to draw our security into this!" I said horrified.

"Clarisse they are two young, vibrant men who probably have bedded many women and still have managed to not put the noose around their own neck and gotten the girls pregnant! But if you want to discuss this with the royal physician, who you know will tell my mother, then fine we will do it your way." Rupert said as a matter of factly

"No! Fine, Rupert - ask away." I blushed.

"Gentlemen, am I right? You do have a girl or two, correct?" Rupert questioned the two men who nodded their answer. "So how do you prevent impregnating these fine women?" Rupert inquired.

"Well, unfortunately, I can't say that I've succeeded in that department." Eric complained.

"Eric, how do you think that girl feels? I hope you were man enough to make her an honest woman!" I exclaimed.

"Well, I don't really know about that; I mean it's not solely my fault." Eric tried.

"Exactly! It takes two to make a child. Rupert, don't you have anything to say to this?" I asked him.

"Well, uhm…. Eric, I suggest you get it sorted out or we will have to look at the future of you employment here at the Palace." Rupert advised.

"I'm sorry, your Highness; I will do my best." Eric apologised.

"Yes you will. Joseph, what about you?" Rupert turned his attention to Joseph.

"Well actually I have a childhood friend that is a medical scientist in the United States of America. A few years back they released a pharmaceutical to prevent pregnancies. It has not yet been available in Europe; but he wanted us, meaning Donna and I, to try it. We are using these oral contraceptives, which are a pharmaceutical birth controlling device. Before those came along, however, I must say that I was less than careful. This is terrible I know; but I was hoping nothing would happen. Donna was the one that thought we should be more responsible." Joseph shared.

"So it's a pill?" I questioned him.

"Yes, one little pill you take everyday. When you want to have a child, you simply just stop taking them. It has been on the American market for a few years and has proven very efficient." Joseph said.

"It sounds so easy. Would you be able to help us to obtain some of these pills? You will, of course, be paid for your service as will your friend." Rupert asked.

"It will be my pleasure, your Highnesses. Please remember there is, of course, more to the usage than what I just told; I only gave you the short version. If you can spare me for a little while, I will arrange it right away." Joseph offered.

Joseph's childhood friend, Dr. Rameriaze, made sure we could use these contraceptives and has done it more discretely than we thought would be possible. So the press can continue to speculate on whether or not we are going to start on child number three now that Christelle is eight months old. They think they can calculate this as it was about this time in Pierre's first year that we got pregnant again; but not this time. We will wait a few years before adding to our family again. It is a true blessing that we don't have to worry about getting pregnant. We have been told that this is only 99 percent safe, so there is always a slight chance that it will fail. It is our sincere hope that we do not fall into that remaining one percent! We would like to enjoy our two children to the fullest right now.

Of course, we will want more children; there are no doubts about that; however we want to wait a few years, at least until Christelle turns two, before we even start thinking about it. Even though the press is already thinking about this…I think Rupert is to blame for that, though, as he has told them that we want lots of children! So while the press may think that we need to hurry,

I know everything will happen in just the right time – our time.

Thank you for reading to the end once again, please give a little review – and if you have ANY ideas or anything please say so, coz I'm kinda stuck…..So thank you and HELP!!!!


	15. Two children or

I have decided that two children, well actually three if you count in my husband, is a hard task to handle. That, along with being the regent of Genovia one week and back as the heirs to the throne the next just to be thrown in as the regent the following week. It wears you down. Along with all my patronages, there just isn't enough time during the day to get everything done. Most importantly, though, my children still remember who I am and I do get to see my husband every night…right before he passes out in the bed.

Rupert has been working so hard for the past several months. His father, King Albert, continues to have health issues. This has been very hard on Rupert; and on us as a family. With his added responsibilities handling things for his father, it has put extra stress on us in general. He tries to see the positive in all of this and sees this as training for when the King is no longer here and Rupert and I will be King and Queen. Secretly, I hope he gets better at managing his time. We see him in the morning; and, if I'm lucky, I get to see him at lunch. The children feel fortunate if they get to see him at dinner. However, he usually has a huge stack of papers at his side which he alternates between signing his name and putting the fork in his mouth.

I feel very sorry for him and I try to help him out as much as possible. Unfortunately, though, there are some things that I, as a woman, am not allowed to participate in…at least according to Parliament. Even when Rupert insists on me joining in on the discussion, they refuse. They even go so far as to make it clear that he is only in session due to his father's bad health and he has not right to insist that they discuss things with a woman. Parliament insists that, if he wanted or needed me there, it casts doubt as to his ability to rule a country. When he comes to bed after days like that, he always snuggles up close and tells me that he needs to hold me…right now.

Christelle had just turned one when he experienced the worst day he had had in a long time. It had been overwhelming and his energy was completely gone by the time we reached bedtime. The day began by him learning that the vet at the stables having to euthanize Rupert's favourite mare because of old age. It had been very difficult for him to let her go; but he knew it was for the best. "Oh God, Clarisse, she was a present for me when I was born." Rupert softly spoke.

"She has done well and you've experienced many things together - you've been more than good to her. I even think you've spoiled her more than me!" I said trying to bring a smile to his saddened face. I was successful.

"I know; but you are a lot nicer to snuggle up to!" He said with the smile still on his handsome face; but he never turned to look at me. When the vet walked out from the stables his hand tightened around mine. I pulled at his arm and lead him back to our suite so we would be there when Pierre came running in.

After breakfast, he had been in session with Parliament where they continued to question his ability to rule. The did not try to hide their concern and had been debating back and forth where or not to let the Chevalier family or the Von Troken family take over the throne after King Albert Renaldi.

Rupert had requested my presence since this also involved me to a certain extent; but he was told that a woman was not allowed to be at one of these sessions unless Parliament unanimously agreed. He had then just sat there listening to all these so called wise men.

At lunch time he had come to my office and gave me a short, but precise, recap of the session. He knelt down beside my chair and looked up at me. "I love you, Clarisse and I always will. I hope you will always love me too, even if Parliament decides not to let me follow in my father's footsteps." He almost begged me.

"Of course I will, Rupert; it is my duty as your wife to stand by you at all times." I said as I cupped his cheek.

Rupert rose halfway to place his lips upon mine. At first it was a soft kiss; but then he pressed into me further and traced his tongue along my lower lip. That was his way of asking for permission to slip past the swollen gates of my lips to meet my tongue. Permission was granted and soon we were lost in our kisses. His hand trailed from my back around to cup my breast, running his thumb over the buds causing them to strain to their fullest. After he teased some more, his hand travelled down my body to my hip which he lightly squeezed. He then let his hand run down my thigh to my knee where his hand disappeared up under my skirt.

His fingertips reached my panty line and he still hadn't received complaints from me. He hastily removed his hand and scooped me up in his arms to be carried to the small sitting arrangement where he placed me and quickly returned his hand to under my skirt. Just as he reached my panties again, a knock was heard at the door. Rupert looked at me and sighed. He pulled me up with him and we made sure we looked presentable before anyone entered.

"Your Highness, the Italian ambassador is in your office waiting for you." Rupert's aide advised.

"Thank you. Please tell him I will be with him in a few minutes." He breathed out.

His aide walked out and closed the door as Rupert turned back to me. "I'm sorry my love, I promise you I will have more time for us soon!" He said as he cupped my face in his hands.

"I know darling. Now go be King and then I will meet you in the bedroom tonight…just don't expect to be allowed to be king there!" I winked at him and we broke out in a hearty laugh.

He had left my office with a smile on his face that had not been present for a long time. He was called back into a meeting with Parliament after that and didn't make it in time for dinner or late night tea. So I tucked in Pierre and Christelle and went to our suite with the last of my paperwork for the day. I didn't realise that I had been reading proposals for hours when Rupert tiptoed through our door. He looked so drained. I felt so very sorry for him. "Darling I'm right here." I softly spoke as not to startle him.

"Oh you haven't gone to bed yet. What a pleasant surprise!" He said, trying to sound energetic.

"Really? Why is that so pleasant?" I questioned.

"Because, I really need you now." He sounded defeated.

"You need me?" I didn't quite know what he meant and looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"NO. NO, it's not that…I just really need you." He said as he sat down beside me and took my hands in his. He lifted them to his mouth and placed feather light kisses to each finger.

"Then please do enlighten me as to what you need my assistance for?" I smiled at him and gave him a small kiss.

"Parliament wanted to know if we were going to have more children. I told them not at the moment and not until we feel as though we will have the time for another child. They informed me they want another Renaldi heir, preferably male. Since Pierre could end up abdicating his claim to the throne. Also, according to Parliament, Christelle will probably marry out of Genovia to a foreign diplomat to enhance the relationship with that particular country. So, if that should happen, then there will be no Renaldi heir left to take over. They want to ensure that doesn't happen. Or…we could just sign our own abdication papers and then Parliament will vote on who will get the throne." Rupert drew a hard breath.

"Darling, what if you just promise Parliament another Renaldi heir, but not until I'm ready for it. Will that satisfy them?" I suggested.

"I attempted that, even without discussing it with you; but apparently they want a pregnancy now." He sighed.

"Well I don't!" I said, as I quickly stood up and walked over to the huge window overlooking the palace garden.

Rupert came up behind me and slipped his arms around me and placed his chin on my shoulder. "I know, love, I know. Not even thinking about another child right now; however, do you want to continue our "lunch"?" He whispered.

I looked at him, gave him a wicked smile and slightly nodded. He scooped me up in his arms and carried me to the bed. I stopped his progress though and asked for a few minutes to freshen up. I smiled and watched as he lay back on the bed with his hands behind his head as he watched me leave. That was exactly the position I found him in when I returned from our bathroom. He was sound asleep. I couldn't help but smile at him and think of him as a child; he looked very innocent as he lay there. I pulled the duvet up to his chin, climbed in next to him and hugged his waist. As my body nestled close to his, I could almost feel how worn down he was.

In November the world seemed to change. The American President was assassinated. Every country seemed to up their standards with security; and, of course, their efforts to secure the people and rulers in their country. The Genovian Parliament decided that the royal family should have even more security than ever before; they wanted to make sure they had a great ruler. They knew King Albert's style, but were uncertain of Rupert's. They continued to voice their concern over his ability to rule. The fact that we had not produced another male heir at their wish was seen as a weakness in their future king. If he couldn't command his wife, then how was he supposed to command a country? They never took the opportunity to ask if this was a mutual agreement we had nor did they seem to care.

Parliament kept pressuring Rupert for another heir, and somehow he managed to keep them at bay with the promise that another heir soon would be announced. One day, however, that wasn't enough for Parliament. He barged into my office. "Clarisse! Clarisse, you have to hang up and come with me to meet with Parliament right this minute!" Rupert declared.

"I'm sorry, Andrea, apparently my husband is in desperate need of me right this moment. Yes, I will call you later!" I said and hung up the phone "Rupert, what on earth is the matter?" I questioned as I leaned forward on my desk.

"You have to come with me to Parliament right now!" He demanded again.

"Rupert, why? I have so much work left here that I….." He cut me off by pulling me by the hand.

"Clarisse, if you don't come with me to Parliament right this minute, there is a possibility that the Renaldi family will not be the reigning family for much longer!" He desperately shared.

"What? Why?" He wasn't making any sense. Why do I need to be present in Parliament for that discussion? Wouldn't that be something you or your father would handle?" I asked.

"Yes, but you are the only one they want to hear from at this point!" He said as we reached the door to the room that housed the Parliament.

I raised my head and straightened my back even more than it already was and entered as soon as my husband opened the door. Everyone stood, out of respect, as we came in. I immediately addressed them, not waiting for an official introduction "Gentlemen, it has come to my attention that you have an interest in both my and my husband's private life and choices. You want another male Renaldi heir and you want it now. While I understand your desire to ensure the future of your country, I want to provide you with a small update from our private lives. While we have every intention of having more children, we are not prepared to do so now.

We have been privileged to already have two beautiful children. We are very interested in getting to know them as parents should know their children. It is our belief that having more children at this point will hinder that." I stated firmly and confidently.

I continued. "I must also say that I feel insulted that you question the motives and interests of both me and your Prince and future King. We have only the best of interests for Genovia which is why we have decided to wait on having another child. Having the best of interest for Genovia involves us being able to be here for Genovia and for our own little family to the fullest. If we do not have the time to bring up the children in the true Genovian spirit, then how can we mould a perfect ruler for you when the time comes? If the promise of another heir as soon as our lives allows isn't enough, then perhaps we should abdicate our rights to assume the throne right now. Thank you." My voice was strong and, perhaps, even angry as I finished. I let out a small sigh before making sure I had looked at each member once then I walked away with a look of confidence.

As soon as the door closed behind us, I wrapped my arms around Rupert's neck and tried to breathe correctly.

"You did marvellous, darling!" Rupert said and ran his hands over my back and soothed my body in an effort to relax me.

"Thank you! I love you!" I said and pulled his lips to mine for a brief moment.

A week later, Parliament agreed to give us some more time and not pressure us for more children. This did not please the Queen as she saw it as a sign of weakness from Rupert that he couldn't control me and make me give him another son. I'm so lucky, though, that I have married a man that treats me with dignity and respect; one who value my opinion and one who agrees with me.

My darling little girl is now two years old. We have started discussing child number three; but it is still only in the discussion phase. We've made an agreement, though, that we will have one more child within the next three years. Parliament has asked Rupert to refrain from bringing me, or any other woman, into session with Parliament again; but he dismissed it right away. He argued that it was healthy for Genovia and for democracy that a woman's point of view be heard as well.

They were not persuaded and stood by the 'we've never done it that way before…' position. Rupert simply replied by explaining, "You do not know what you've been missing!" He continued with, "that will change as soon as I'm your sovereign" I sure hope he is able to follow through when the time comes; although I hope that it isn't anytime soon. With how busy he has been and all the demands on our private life now, I can only imagine what it will be like when he is King. If that is the way it's going to be, a small part of me would have preferred that Parliament didn't approve of our decision to wait and just dispose of us as the future ruling monarchs. Thanks to my convincing argument, however, we were still scheduled to someday be the future King and Queen of Genovia.


	16. Our Time Part 1

Was channelsurfing on the TV and came across Princess Diaries 1 on one channel. Decided I wouldn't keep you waiting any longer.

Thank you all SO much for your reviews – I have to split this chappy up in two mostly coz it's way to long and second the other half of it will need some more work!!!! Thank you Mama for doing the beta on this and for all your help!!! Love you!!!!

Well on with the story!!!!

Enjoy.

Our Time – Part 1

Seven years have just flown by. I don't know where they have gone. We've just celebrated New Year's and now 1971 is waiting to be written. So many things have happened; I don't even know where to start. My beloved mother died in 1962, a few months after Christelle's second birthday…very suddenly actually. We all thought she miraculously had overcome her illness. She was back to her normal self. Suddenly, one night, she took a turn for the worse with such speed that we were advised to come immediately to say our goodbyes.

I didn't want to acknowledge that my mother was dying. It was the middle of the night and Rupert had to almost pull me out of the suite. In my mind, I think I believed that if I postponed saying good-bye, she would stay longer. Rupert demonstrated some tough love, though, and said that we needed to go now or I would never get to say goodbye. Thank God that he was persistent; I was the last one who got to say goodbye. She closed her eyes for good while I held her hand. I cried so hard that I could hardly breathe. I remember giving my father a kiss on the cheek and Rupert carrying me to bed. The rest was nothing more than a blank until Rupert filled in the empty spaces.

If you recall, we promised Parliament that we would have more children when we felt we where ready. Even though they agreed to that condition, we have weekly read in the newspapers that a certain member or Parliament has said that he thinks our promises are not enough. We just hope that doesn't mean that they will start demanding more heirs. In the past, the pressure from Parliament hasn't proven effective when it comes to conceiving. But after the first fifty of those comments in the papers, we started to just pass that section quickly. Our next child will come when we are ready…

September 1964, we attended the wedding of Rupert's cousin, Constantine the III of Greece's wedding. Rupert and Constantine both were Olympic swimmers and they are very close. He even asked Rupert for advice when he had meet Anne-Marie. She was only sixteen when he realised that she was the one. Lucky for him, she felt the same about him. They were advised that it would be best, though, to wait until she turned eighteen. It was a beautiful wedding; very much like my own. This one, of course, was much easier to enjoy.

Our lives were filled with ups and downs after my mother's passing. There was a lot of pressure from many different sources: Parliament's continued pressure for another heir; the pressure from the extra responsibility placed on both of us due to the ailing health of the King of Genovia; life, in general, seemed to be stressful and was taking its toll on us as a family.

Rupert's father, a very wise man, told us to take a Sabbath year - a year to be "normal" family. He was feeling better and felt that he wanted to be needed again. I didn't object as I certainly didn't mind having my husband back. So we tied up any loose ends and, starting at the end of the summer of 1965, we started our year as a normal family.

It was a wonderful year. I finally got to focus on being a mother; Rupert was able to utilize his education in economy. I would have loved to have worked as well; but we decided before we left that we didn't want any of the nannies with us. Having Pierre and Christelle in some sort of daycare wasn't an option as that would set a high demand of security at the estate; which was exactly what we didn't want. We wanted to take this year and not be noticed; that scenario would have given us anything but that.

We did, of course, have security with us for that year. The Royal Guard wouldn't dare let us leave without them. So it was arranged that our "neighbours" would be Joseph and his girlfriend Donna on one side; on the other was Eric, his wife Amanda, and their little baby boy. All of this was necessary to give the illusion of new families moving into the area.

It was interesting to follow the everyday lives of the people around us. It was great fun the way we just blended in with all of them. Not one of all the people around us questioned us in anyway. To be honest, I felt bad for not telling them that we would only be here for a year…since we had a country to rule when we returned.

We had been at our new home for about three months when we decided to spend a day in town. While shopping for clothes for both Pierre and Christelle, we ran into a couple that lived a few houses away from us. "Oh Hello!?" the woman said.

Both Rupert and I turned around to see if it was us that were addressed, we still hadn't forgotten the formal greetings that we were accustomed to. "Oh hello; Mr. and Mrs. Almange right?" I tried.

The couple laughed. "No Addison; but close enough. You are the Renaldis, correct? It is such a beautiful name – sounds almost royal!" The woman added.

We looked at each other in shock. We had never realised that our name might give away our title. We were able to keep our secret, though, and didn't reveal our real "job" until a few months before our Sabbath year was ending. All of our neighbours were absolutely amazing; they acted as if it were the most natural thing that we actually were royals.

After our first and only Christmas and New Year's as a normal family and Christelle's fourth birthday, I had to call the royal physician, James Devenir. I asked him come to me as soon as possible. He said he needed a week before he could come; he needed to create a good cover story so the press wouldn't follow him. As the royal physician, his movements would be monitored by the press – especially since we weren't in Genovia for an entire year. If he suddenly left, it would be assumed that he was coming to visit us.

That week gave me time to plan something personal for Rupert. The day before James' arrival, I sought out Rupert after dinner. "Darling, am I disturbing you?" I asked as I entered the living room.

"No. No, love; I was just reading the report from Parliament from their meeting last week that my father sent me. What can I do for you?" He asked, briefly looking up from his papers.

"Oh not much; I just want some undivided attention. Can we talk just for a few minutes?" I asked, smiling at him.

"Of course, anything for you!" Rupert put the papers aside and folded his hands in front of himself, looking at me with interest.

"Well I went into town today and picked up a few things for you." I said as I handed him a small package, which he took slowly while staring at me.

"You bought me a present?" He questioned and looked down at the small box with a neatly tied ribbon.

I nodded softly while placing an errant stray of hair behind my ear; Rupert started unwrapping the box slowly. He caught my eye just before the lid came off. He smiled then looked down again; taking the items out of the box one by one looking at them. He seemed unsure as to what meaning they brought. Then after he had taken out a small pair of shoes, socks, a bib and a pacifier it suddenly hit him.

"Clarisse are you telling me what I think you are telling me?" He almost shouted.

"Well that depends; what do you think I'm telling you?" I played.

"Are you trying to tell me that…that….that we are pregnant?" Rupert whispered in excitement.

"Yes darling; Dr. James will be here tomorrow to verify what the doctor I visited here told me. I just want James's word for it as well." I shared lovingly and brushed my hand down his cheek.

Rupert didn't know what to do with himself: He was smiling; his eyes were glazed over. He rose to his feet only to sit down again. He placed his hand on his mouth and gestured to speak then fell silent again. He slowly let the air slip from his lungs then he took hold of my hand and looked me in the eyes. "I love you Clarisse. You keep making me the happiest man on earth!" Rupert got up, pulling me with him. He lifted my chin to give him better access for a kiss; a kiss that lingered for a minute.

I broke off the kiss and looked him right in the eyes for a while and then ended the silence. "But I want us to enjoy this, alone. No press releases, no press conferences right now; not a word to a single soul until we get home, alright?" I begged.

"Of course, darling, if that's how you want it, that is how it will be!" He promised.

"This will be our last chance to keep anything from the public. They've practically been in the room when the other two were conceived; and, if we should have more children after this one, it will be the same. I want this to be private for as long as possible; then we will handle the press when the time comes." I looked at Rupert with my head tilted to one side.

"I will take all the shouting and yelling any day, from now and until I die, from the press and our families, just to have this with you, alone." He said as he brought his lips back to meet mine.

James arrived the day after and confirmed what the Hawaiian doctor had said. Rupert was so happy about the news of another child. His happiness grew when I started to show, more than a little, just a few weeks before we had to return to Genovia. He enjoyed touching my distended stomach and feeling the baby kick his hand. His eyes smiled more than his mouth, if that was possible.

We went home two weeks earlier than planed because I started growing and evidence of my pregnancy was going to be hard to hide. We had agreed on holding a press conference for the announcement; but we wanted it to be a surprise as to what the conference was about. Since my pregnancy was already difficult to hide, the conference was scheduled to start fifteen minutes after our arrival.

I was wearing a light blue dress that fell freely around my body. When the doors first opened, we moved quickly to the couch placed in the center of the room. We wanted to sit comfortably from the beginning because we were certain that this would take some time.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the press, welcome to this press conference. We are glad to see so many of you here. We would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all of you for honouring our privacy and truly allowing us to enjoy the Sabbath year my father granted us. We have enjoyed experiencing a "normal" life, so to speak to the fullest and thank you for that." Rupert opened and placed one arm behind me while chatting away anything on matters that were of less importance.

"I'm sorry, your highness; but is that why you called a conference, to say thank you for leaving you alone?" One reporter questioned.

"Certainly that is not the only reason; I just felt it important to give you my thank you." Rupert said and leaned back more comfortably.

"Then why this press conference?" Another reporter asked; his impatience evident in his voice.

"Ah yes, I guess we better get on with it. Clarisse will you do the honour?" Rupert said and looked me in the eyes.

"Yes, of course, I will darling." I smiled softly and turned to address the press corps. "Ladies and Gentlemen of the press, The Crown Prince and I are happy to announce that we are expecting our third child. The birth will be expected mid November. Both the Crown Prince and I are happy about this pregnancy and hope that you all will accept and forgive us for not telling you sooner." I stated smiling.

When I had said the word 'expecting' the flashes had went amok. Every single photographer and Journalist had a request they desperately wanted fulfilled. I tried desperately throughout the entire press conference to not put my hand on my growing form; but after the first forty-five minutes of questions, the little one decided to join in. In an effort to hopefully calm down all the movement, I placed my hand softly over the area where my child rested. Again the flashes went crazy, but just when I thought it couldn't get any crazier, the child kicked the air out of me. When I drew a difficult breath, Rupert placed his hand on top of mine and for the next few minutes the room was one big light. "Darling, are you all right?" Rupert leaned in while his thumb caressed my hand beneath his.

"Phew….yes thank you love, just lost my breath." I answered back breathless.

"We will end this now." Rupert said and smiled for the cameras as did I. "Thank you all for your understanding. My wife needs her rest, so for now we will bow out. Thank you and have a great day!" Rupert and I both stood and he placed his left arm around my back. His action caused the tightening of the fabric of my dress, which showed more of my bulging form. Once more the room was filled with light, with renewed requests for more angles and pictures. We simply waved and smiled.

When the doors closed behind us and we were away from the press again, King Albert came up to us and took hold of my hand and looked me deeply into my eyes. "Clarisse, you just secured the crown for the Renaldi family. This pregnancy will save me from having to face Parliament the day after tomorrow and sign papers handing over the throne to either the Chevalier family or the Von Trokens. So thank you!" He said and turned, leaving us standing there stunned. Parliament had gone back on their word while we were away. If we hadn't returned home early, we would have come home to a Genovia that would no longer be ruled by the Renaldi family, due to a new law. So the decision of returning early was better planned than we first thought. We were happy that the uncertainty over the future of the Renaldi rule was over now.

The rest of my pregnancy was just as smooth as the first part. It was as easy as my pregnancy with Pierre. Additionally, I wasn't huge like I was with Christelle; and thank God for that! I had a due date that was set to the 19th of November; so when the water suddenly broke in the middle of the night more than a month early I panicked. Luckily Rupert was right besides me the entire time. He held me while I kept crying out of panic. I was rushed to the hospital. When we arrived, poor Rupert had to be looked at by a doctor, while I was being prepared for delivery, even though I protested all I could against it. Unfortunately, on the ride to the hospital, I had clutched Rupert's hand so tightly that I had actually broken two of his fingers. I was yet again in excruciating pain during labour.

Once I was prepared for delivery, Rupert was allowed to come to my room until the midwife arrived. Just as he entered I was having a long and hard contraction, loudly vocalizing my discomfort through it while a nurse timed it. "For the love of God, why don't you do something for her? Can't you hear that she's in pain? Why aren't you doing something?" Rupert yelled at the calm nurse.

"I'm sorry your highness; but your wife doesn't want anything for the pain. I've offered it four times already and she keeps refusing it!" The young nurse informed Rupert.

"Darling, don't do this to yourself, please!" Rupert begged me while running a hand over my drenched hair.

"It is too early. This baby shouldn't be coming already, Rupert. I'm scared. Stay with me. Please." I begged him.

"I will stay for as long as you want." He whispered as he kissed my forehead.

And he did. Against all recommendations and orders, Rupert stayed with me IN the delivery room. Even though his mother once again came and told him to leave. This time, however, he said no and stayed. I think he was as scared as I was; but stayed strong for me. Our second boy was born on October 12 at one in the afternoon. He was very small; but still a fighter and more than willing to live.

When we left the hospital two weeks later; I, for the first time, saw how much love the country has for us. Every single citizen of Pyrus was out in the streets to wave us home. I do not think that Genovia had any flowers left anywhere else than at the palace. It was so moving.

Philippe was christened quickly after we came home, Edward Christoph Philippe Gerard Renaldi. We had moved up the date in case something should happen, God forbid. He did great, however, and continues to do so! He was full of energy from his first step, a great joy to just watch - not only for me, but for the entire family. He had just turned 2 years old when Rupert's father once again fell ill. This time, though, he didn't bounce back; he died after five weeks of illness.

Both Rupert and I had started preparing ourselves for the inevitable. Already after our first visit, my mother in-law again felt filthy because she had shared King Albert's bed when he had started feeling bad again. So instead of staying and helping her husband through this difficult time, his last; she spent three weeks in Italy. She was in the room, though, when King Albert passed away in silence. Sadly, she didn't seem affected by her loss.

Prime Minister Étang informed Genovia of the passing of King Albert and appointed Rupert as the new King of Genovia. It was customary that the newly appointed King give a short speech; but Rupert couldn't. He struggled to even raise his eyes to look over the crowd that was in front of the palace. I was just about to go to him; but our darling little two year old Philippe beat me to it and ran to his father, who just pulled him into his arms. He then dried his eyes and waved, together with Philippe, to the crowd. The crowd, in return yelled over and over again. "Long live King Rupert!" We were crowned King and Queen of Genovia a week later.

Our first year as reigning monarchs went by in a flash. Many new things were added to our everyday life.

To Be Continued……

Please leave your two cents of thought upon this part!!!! Thank you!!!! Love you all!!!!


	17. Our Time Part 2

Thank you for all you reviews - and a VERY VERY BIG thank you to Shakaylay for being my wonderful beta that have made this part even better than it ever could have been in just my hands!! Thank you mama!!

Well on with this continuation of the last part - Enjoy!!

Our Time - Part two...

Slowly all of the diplomatic affairs started to consume us

Slowly all of the diplomatic affairs started to consume us. This, of course, meant that we didn't see as much of each other as we used to. Rupert worked non stop and had several weeks out of country in an effort to strengthen the bonds with our allies. The more he travelled, the less time he was with us. What little time that he did have at home was spent with the children. When we finally were alone, he was too tired to even talk. As a result, we were rarely intimate. I would read in the papers what my husband was doing; he read what I was doing. We once went for an entire month without speaking to each other.

We finally had the chance to be intimate one afternoon in his office. He had just unbuttoned my shirt and unzipped my skirt; I had pulled his shirt of off him. We were kissing, making up for lost time, when a knock on the door interrupted us. Rupert moved quickly to the door, leaving me vulnerable and exposed in his haste. He cracked it open; but not so much that the person couldn't see that he was in a state of undress. I was left utterly embarrassed that he didn't hide from the intruder what was happening behind the closed door. Rupert was being given information that advised that a meeting with the French President had been scheduled. Just as quickly as our afternoon had started, it had ended. He turned and his only words to me were, "I'm sorry darling; I'm afraid I must go. I'll see you next Friday upon my return. Good bye."

With those words, he left me there in his office. I made myself look presentable again before I left his office. I went quickly to my own office and slammed the door shut after my entrance. Luckily no one was in there, so I was free to cry, which I did. When I heard a small knock on my door I dried my eyes. "Entré!" I said.

"Your Majesty, I must request that you do not change locations so quickly when inside the palace it makes it more difficu…Your Majesty, are you alright?" Joseph asked softly while closing the distance between us.

"No I am not. My husband just left me for the French President, even though I was half naked." I sniffled

"Your Majesty? I am not sure I follow." Joseph questioned.

"Clarisse. Please, Joseph, will you call me Clarisse?" I implored him as I felt the tears press against my eye lids.

"I'm sorry…Clarisse. I'm just not completely comfortable with this first name basis. Now tell me again who you think your husband left you for?" He asked.

"It was more important to Rupert to go to France right away to meet with the French President tomorrow than stay and be my husband." I felt the tears starting to slowly make their way down my cheeks.

"I'm sure that His Majesty didn't plan on it. He just wants to do what is best for Genovia and that apparently invol…" He was cut off by my lips crashing down on his. I desperately wanted him to react to my advances…if for no other reason than to reassure myself that I was desirable. He continued to stand there, immobile. He slowly pushed me back looking me in the eyes. "Clarisse, Your Majesty…what are you trying to accomplish here?" He asked.

"Am I not a desirable woman, Joseph?" I asked as I gazed upon him, the tears clouding my vision. Months and months of being alone had left my psyche in a fragile state. I just wanted to feel something…anything and have those feelings returned. I made one last effort to fill the gaping void that had been present in my life since Rupert had given himself wholly to the monarch.

I covered Joseph's lips, once again, this time softening my attempt. I did receive a small response. I suppose, in retrospect, that it would have been impossible for him to not respond at all…he was an honourable man; but he was…a man. My arms went around his neck as I relished the feel of a warm, solid body against mine. Feelings of guilt coursed through my veins, though, as I realized that the warm body was not my husband's and that I was taking unfair advantage of someone that I cared about, perhaps more than I wanted to admit. I slowly pulled back and stood there, just looking at him.

He returned my gaze for several minutes before softly answering my question. "Of course you are desirable; but this situation is…well, let's just say it's not in any of our best interests to continue down this path. Not mine, not yours; and, certainly, not the King's. You hold a very special place in my heart and I think you are an amazing Queen and woman. It's very possible – no probable - that the feelings I have for you are improper and something that I, alone, must deal with. You should focus on your husband and restoring that relationship. I know you love him and he loves you; you must find your way back to each other." He lifted my hand and kissed the back of it and then quietly left my office.

My husband returned a week later. I, along with our three children, welcomed him home with open arms and eagerness. Unfortunately, to the big disappointment of the children, especially Pierre, Rupert was rushed by his aide and secretary to his office to finish of a deal with the Spanish government. One look at my children's disappointed expressions and my fury rose to new heights. It was one thing to neglect me…I was NOT having him disappoint our children as well. I marched down the hall and just opened the door to Rupert's office and immediately dismissed all employees in the room.

"Clarisse, what is wrong?" He questioned while placing the phone back on the receiver.

"What is wrong? What is wrong? How can you even ask such a question, Rupert? You just marched right past your three children who you haven't seen you for over a week. My anger doesn't even take into account that the last time we saw each other, I was half dressed and throwing myself at you right here in this very office, only to have you rush out and leave me frustrated and alone. You are making it difficult to be a family, my King. You are making being the King more important to you than being a father or a husband. While I might understand your duty to your country, your children do not. So know this…I will never again allow you to pass your children like that, is that understood?"

"Clarisse, I'm sorry; but I needed to get all these different affairs straightened out." Rupert offered.

"I know, but you don't have to do that as soon as you enter the door. I'm sure no permanent harm will come to our great nation if you delay for just thirty minutes so you could say hello, at least, to your children. I can wait if it has to be that way…I can always hope that you will find me when you retire for the night as I am still sharing your bed…" I let my voice trail away.

"Still? What do you mean? Are you planning on moving out?" Rupert finally seemed to focus on our conversation and now was a little confused and appeared worried.

"Rupert you haven't been home much…and when you are home, you have paid even less attention to me as I do not carry around reports that need your signature. I'm not planning on moving out…but if there is not room for me in your life and you want me to…I will understand."

I hesitated a little before I continued, first silencing him with my hand "The day you left me here in your office, I was devastated. I felt rejected and alone. I ran to my office and tried to find solace in my tears. Joseph came in shortly thereafter and found me in a sad state. I'm not quite sure how to explain what happened next; perhaps I shouldn't even tell you…but, I feel as though I must…to clear my conscience and to persuade you of the seriousness of our situation."

I ventured a gaze at Rupert and saw that I did, indeed, have his undivided attention. I let out a deep breath and continued. "I'm not sure I can adequately explain to you what I felt like…I needed to feel desirable, to believe that you did not leave because you didn't want ME. Joseph walked in and I used him to prove to myself that I was still someone to be sought after. I kissed him, Rupert. When he didn't respond, I redoubled my efforts. I used my anger towards you and my need to feel wanted into something that was improper and that I can't understand myself. I'm sorry I betrayed you." I steeled myself and summoned the courage to say all that was truly in my heart. "While I accept the responsibility and any ensuing consequences for my action, you must acknowledge your part in my betrayal as well. I am your wife, Rupert, and while I know your duty to your country must come first; as your wife, I need to feel as though I am of some importance to you as well. I deserve at least that, don't I?"

Rupert seemed to be lost in thought; then he asked. "Did he return your affection?"

I didn't follow him at first. "What? Who?"

"Joseph. You said he didn't respond and then you said you redoubled your efforts. Did he respond the second time?"

I warred with myself regarding how truthfully to answer; I was willing to accept whatever came my way but didn't want to get Joseph in trouble. I looked up to see Rupert had closed the distance between us and his hand cupped my cheek. His face held a hint of sadness as he said, "He would have to have ice water in his veins not to respond to a woman as beautiful and desirable as you; and I must be a fool for making you feel that you are anything less."

"I'm truly sorry, Rupert. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."

Rupert had a far away look in his eyes; I wasn't sure that his mind had fully registered all that I had just told him. "I…I'm going to need to be alone, Clarisse. I need time to think. I promise to seek you out when I'm ready to fully discuss this. Please…leave me now."

His voice was as far away as the look in his eyes and I decided that now would not be the best time to press him. I quietly answered, "Of course, Rupert," and left immediately.

Rupert divided his time the rest of the day between his duties and spending time with the children; he didn't seek me out, however, until bedtime. He came into the suite, his stride quick and purposeful. The doors slammed shut behind him. Once he reached me at the chaise he kneeled in front of me. His words were quiet, but sincere. "Clarisse I've thought about us all day. I know I haven't been much of a husband or father lately. Also, I promised you that before we were married that I would never forget that I had a duty to my family as well as my country. It seems that I may have lost sight of that. I need to make the family the most important thing in my life."

I had to know where we stood. "So you forgive me?"

"If you'll forgive me…perhaps we can start over?" His hands were holding mine as he looked intently into my eyes. "Let's consider this a closed chapter in our lives: One that we will not open or discuss again; for my sake, for your sake and…for Joseph's sake. Understood?" I nodded a definite yes and kissed him the way that I had been wanting to for weeks now.

Things changed after that night. We felt a renewed connection and devotion to each other after our talk. It took a few weeks, but I regained an ease with Joseph again, too. Once he was convinced I wasn't going to break down or throw myself at him again, our friendship became stronger as well. Rupert and I took on new projects that focused on strengthening Genovia. While any changes can sometimes be met with resistance, Rupert did a good job of leading the country to a stronger and better place.

In other political matters, Rupert's dear friend, King Constantine, and his wife were exiled. We invited them to stay in Genovia for a while. Although the circumstances were unfortunate, it worked out nicely as Rupert and Constantine had a great deal of fun together. It was a nice diversion for Rupert as he allowed some of the burdens of ruling to be pushed aside for a brief period. They couldn't stay long in Genovia, however, and moved on after six months to England, where they would be safer.

With all that is going on, political and otherwise, in Europe here as we enter the 1970's, it seems like we won't be able to take it slow anytime soon. We always make time for each other, though; and, most importantly, our children. Pierre has found an interest in the church; Christelle seems to be more materialistic, concerned only if her newest doll has curly hair instead of straight. Phillipe is obsessed with cars, of all sizes. I'm confident that if he could get permission, he would be in the garage all day long. They are all growing so fast. If I let myself slow down and think, I worry about the fact that I'm still young and already have three children who are very independent. I know Rupert feels the same way…so at least we're in it together. I know as long as we are together, as a family, we will survive and the great nation of Genovia will prosper.

I'm sorry for the long wait on an update, but I don't have as much time as I use to - so be paitient for the next part. Thank you!!


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